1 


SELECTED 

OF 


on.  John  Mercer1  Langgton,  LL 


U.  S.  MINISTER   RESIDENT  AT  HAITI. 


With  an  Introductory  Sketch  by  Rev.  J.  E.  Ranking.  D. 


JOHN  MERCER  LANGSTON,  LL.  D. 


FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 


SELECTED  LECTURES  AND  ADDRESSES 


OF 


HON.  JOHN  MERCER  LANGSTON,  LLD, 

<? 

U.  *S.  MINISTER  RESIDENT  AT  HAITI. 


WITH  AN  INTRODUCTORY  SKETCH 
BY  REV.  J.  E.  RANKIN,  D.  D., 

OF  WASHINGTON. 


WASHINGTON,  D.   C.: 

EUPUS  H.  DABBY,  PUBLISHER. 
1883. 


WHO  IN  HOME  AND  SCHOOL  AND  COLLEGE 

ARE  TRYING 


OF 


WITH  WHICH 

60D  HND  THEIR 

HAVE 

END0WED 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE. 

DEDICATION,           .          .          .          *       ;  •';  •  .  5 

INTRODUCTORY  SKETCH,             .          .      ^   .  ...  9 

THE  WORLD'S  ANTI-SLAVERY  MOVEMENT,  .  '•  41 

DANIEL  O'CONNELL,        .          .          ..'.-.  .  69 

CITIZENSHIP  AND  THE  BALLOT,            .-        »  .  99 

BISHOP  KICHARD  ALLEN,           /                    .  .  123 

EQUALITY  BEFORE  THE  LAW,              »          .  ..  141 

EULOGY  ON  CHARLES  SUMNER,        ;   .   ,       .  *  162 

OUR  PATRIOT  DEAD,       .          .          .          .  *.  180 

OUR  POLITICAL  PARTIES,         ..          .          i  .  188 

PACIFIC  RECONSTRUCTION,         .^        .       -  .  .  209 

THE  EXODUS,         .   *       .          .         , .          ; ;  .  232 

FUTURE  OF  THE  COLORED  AMERICAN,         V  .  259 


INTRODUCTORY  SKETCH. 


JOHN  MERCER  LANGSTON,  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
colored  men  of  his  period,  for  he  stands  with  the  two  fore 
most,  Douglass  and  Bruce,  was  born  in  Louisa  county,  Vir 
ginia,  December  14th,  1829.  This  date  he  gets  from  his 
half-sister.  His  father  was  Ralph  Quarles,  Esq.,  and  his 
mother  plain  Jane  Langston,  of  African  and  Indian  descent, 
his  father's  favorite  slave.  When  Mr.  Quarles  died  he 
emancipated  all  his  slaves  by  will,  and  sent  them  to  Ohio. 
Of  the  lad  Langston,  who  was  among  them,  Col.  William  D. 
Gooch,  a  former  friend  of  his  father's,  was  appointed  guar 
dian  by  the  judges  of  the  Ross  county  court.  By  Mr. 
Gooch  and  his  family  he  was  always  treated  as  a  son.  Miss 
Virginia  Gooch,  a  young  lady  whom  he  distinctly  remem 
bers,  taught  him  in  the  New  Testament,  and  he  never 
dreamed  that  he  did  not  belong  to  them  by  birth. 

When  he  was  between  eight  and  ten  years  of  age,  Colonel, 
Gooch  took  it  into  his  head  to  emigrate  to  Missouri,  a  slave 
State.  The  family,  with  their  furniture,  were  all  packed  on 
board  a  boat  on  the  Chillicothe  canal,  when  suddenly  the 
sheriff,  at  the  instance  of  his  half-brother,  William  Lang- 
•ton,  appeared  with  a  process  charging  an  attempt  to  kidnap 
the  boy.  The  lad  himself  fearing  that  he  was  to  be  torn 
from  his  own  family  friends,  clung  frantically  to  them,  and 
when  asked  by  Judge  Keith,  before  whom  Colonel  Gooch 
was  taken,  whether  he  would  go  with  his  reputed  father  or 
his  half-brother,  replied  that  he  would  go  with  Colonel 

A 


10  JOHN  MERCER  LANGSTON,  LL.  D. 

Gooch.  Singularly  enough,  the  lawyer  who  presented  his 
half-brother's  case  was  the  now  distinguished  ex-Senator 
Thurman,  who,  not  until  within  a  few  years,  ever  knew  any 
thing  of  the  future  history  of  the  boy,  when  he  was  in 
formed  by  Mr.  Langston  himself.  The  result  of  the  busi 
ness  was,  that  Colonel  Gooch  continued  his  trip  to  Missouri,, 
and  the  lad  remained  under  other  guardianship  in  Ohio.  It 
is  not  to  be  for  one  moment  supposed  that  Colonel  Gooch 
had  any  dishonorable  intention  in  the  premises.  But,  had 
the  boy  been  taken  to  Missouri,  even  if  he  had  always  re 
mained  free,  his  future  eminence  would  have  been  impossi 
ble.  In  Ohio,  at  that  time,  were  almost  the  only  opportuni 
ties  in  the  country  for  a  young  colored  boy  to  cultivate  his- 
mind. 

It  is  impossible  to  overrate  the  influence  of  Oberlin 
upon  the  welfare  of  Northern  Ohio,  and,  indeed,  in  1861, 
when  came  the  time  that  tried  men's  souls,  upon  the  destiny 
of  the  whole  country.  It  was  the  hot-bed  of  the  most  radical 
sentiments  in  politics  and  religion.  It  was  the  watch-tower 
of  freedom  and  righteousness.  President  Finney,  a  man 
who  walked  with  God  as  Enoch  did,  though  he  looked  upon 
man  with  rather  a  judicial  look,  was  at  the  head  of  it.  The 
pulse  of  his  vigorous  life  beat  in  every  department.  To  this 
institutionfyoung  Langston  was  sent  when  he  was  thirteen, 
He  went  into  the  family,  as  his  ward,  of  Prof.  Geo.  Whip- 
pie,  afterwards  for  so  many  years  the  distinguished  Secre 
tary  of  the  American  Missionary  Association.  Professor 
Whipple^was  a  fatherly  and  judicious  counsellor  and  friend. 
After  spending  five  years  in  diligent  labor  at  his  books* 
young  Langeton  graduated  with  honor  from  the  college  in 
1849.  One  fyear  of  law-study  intervened  with  Judge  An 
drews,  of  Cleveland,  when  he  returned  to  Oberlin  and  en- 


JOHN  MERCER  LANG8TON,  LL.  D.  11 

tered  the  theological  department.  From  this,  in  due  time, 
he  graduated  in  1853.  How  strong  was  his  tendency  to  the 
ministry  as  a  profession  may  be  inferred  from  the  theme  of 
his  commencement  oration :  "  The  Qualification  of  the  Pul 
pit  Orator."  Of  this  oration,  which  is  singularly  clear  and 
forcible,  this  is  the  last  paragraph : 

"  Cultivated  rhetoric,  vigorous  imagination,  fine  dis 
criminating  logical  powers,  accurate  and  extensive  knowl 
edge,  sincere  respect  for  his  fellow-men,  a  soul«-absorbing 
philanthropy,  and  a  warm  and  benign  earnestness;  these 
are  the  qualifications  of  the  successful  pulpit  orator.  These 
were  the  qualities  which  gave  such  force  and  beauty  to  the 
discourses  of  Hall,  such  point  and  persuasion  to  the  ser 
mons  of  Whitefield,  and  such  weight  and  fervor  to  the  preach 
ing  o(  Chalmers.." 

If  one  would  like  some  idea  of  what  this  young  student 
meant  by  a  soul-absorbing  philanthropy,  indeed,  of  what 
then  passed  in  Oberlin  for  practical  religion,  he  will  find  it 
in  the  following  passage  : 

"Another  qualification  of  the  pulpit  orator  is  a  soul-absorb 
ing  philanthropy,  the  most  glorious  attribute  in  the  character 
of  the  Pattern  Minister.  This  was  the  characteristic  that 
caused  Him  to  feed  the  hungry,  to  clothe  the  naked,  and  to 
bring  the  riches  of  the  gospel  to  the  doors  of  the  poor. 
Shall  not  the  servant  be  as  his  Lord  ?  Indeed,  the  minister 
of  the  gospel,  if  he  would  be  as  his  Teacher,  if  he  would 
do  his  entire  duty  as  a  faithful  servant,  must  see  in  every 
human  being  a  brother,  and  adopt  practically  the  injunction  : 
'Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thy  self.'  He  must  be 
willing  to  go  to  the  dens  of  poverty  and  degradation,  into 
the  squalid  hovels  of  the  miserably  poor,  as  well  as  into  the 
spacious  and  elegantly  furnished  mansions  of  the  rich.  He 


12  JOHN  MERCER  LANGS  TON,  LL.  D. 

must  not  forget  them  who  are  cast  down  and  oppressed. 
He  must  speak  in  behalf  of  the  outraged  and  down-trodden ; 
in  defence  of  the  all-embracing  doctrines  of  universal  liberty. 
He  must  have  the  moral  courage  to  speak  against  every 
unjust  discrimination  growing  out  of  caste  and  accidental 
difference.  He  must  stand  forth  in  vindication  of  all  reforms 
in  Church  and  State,  which  are  the  legitimate  demand  of 
truth  and  love.  Especially,  indeed,  should  he  speak  in 
trumpet  tones  in  advocacy  of  the  rights  and  claims  and  the 
interests  of  the  dumb,  the  disfranchised  and  the  enslaved. 
In  a  word,  being  a  true  philanthropist,  possessing  a  spirit 
akin  to  that  of  Howard  and  Clarkson,  he  should  be  ready  to 
oppose  every  species  of  oppression  and  wrong,  whether  it 
come  in  the  sermon  of  a  soulless  and  obsequious  D.  D.,  in 
the  speech  of  a  heartless  statesman,  the  enactment  of  a 
time-serving  Congress,  or  in  the  huge,  the  colossal,  the  mer 
cenary  dimensions  of  slavery  itself.  The  Bible,  in  legislat 
ing  love,  is  the  original,  the  God -given  proclamation  of  inde 
pendence  and  freedom.  And  he  who  undertakes  to  expound 
it  to  men  ought  to  be  thoroughly  imbued  with  its  spirit." 

But,  like  the  late  President  Garfield,  whose  thoughts  were 
first  turned  to  the  Christian  ministry,  Mr.  Langston  was  to 
secure  his  successes  and  rewards  in  another  department  of 
labor.  Had  he  chosen  the  Christian  ministry  (as  he  some 
times  has  had  lingering  thoughts  that  perhaps  he  should  have 
done)  and  had  he  been  able  to  realize  his  own  high  ideal  in 
it,  he  certainly  would  not  have  failed  of  similar  successes 
and  rewards.  As  a  preacher,  President  Finney  was  in  many 
respects  Mr.  Langston' s  model.  Clear,  direct,  cogent,  bril 
liant,  Mr.  Langston  would  have  added  that  personal  per 
suasiveness  and  magnetism,  for  which,  as  a  lawyer  he  has 
been  so  distinguished,  and  which  has  made  himjme  of  the 
most  etfective  of  speakers  upon  the  stump. 


JOHN  MEECEE  LANGSTON,  LL.  D.  13 

Having  determined  upon  the  practice  of  law,  Mr.  Lang- 
ston  repaired  to  Elyria,  entered  the  office  of  Philimon  Bliss, 
Esq.,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  His  first  cases  were  in 
defence  of  the  violators  of  the  liquor  license  law  ;  for  a 
young  lawyer  is  compelled  to  take  the  clients  who  first  knock 
at  his  office  door.  To  these  cases  he  brought  such  penetra 
tion  and  industry  and  persistence,  that  soon  this  first  colored 
lawyer  west  of  the  Alleghanies  had  won  for  himself  a  bril 
liant  reputation.  For  twelve  years  he  remained  in  Ohio, 
adding  to  his  resources,  financial  and  professional,  and  recog 
nized  everywhere  as  a  young  man  sure  to  rise.  He  was 
once  personally  insulted  by  a  member  of  the  bar  on  account 
of  his  color,  to  whom  he  administered  justice  with  his  own 
right  hand.  An  effort  was  made  by  the  aggrieved  lawyer  to 
have  him  indicted  by  the  grand  jury;  but  the  effort  failed, 
and  Mr.  Langston  was  privately  advised,  by  the  foreman, 
that  if  any  such  affront  was  ever  put  upon  him  again , 
they  would  indict  him,  unless  he  dealt  with  the  offender  in 
precisely  the  same  manner.  But  he  was  not  a  professional 
man  alone.  He  was  all  the  time  working  for  the  liberation 
and  advancement  of  his  race.  In  speeches  and  resolutions  at 
conventions,  and  on  the  platform  he  always  kept  his  eye  sin 
gle  to  this  great  end.  He  always  looked  forward  to  that 
better  time  which  he  believed  to  be  coming,  as  though  this 
were  his  motto : 

Man's  wrongs  we  still  will  right  them, 

Man's  burdens  help  him  bear, 
Man's  foes,  we  still  will  fight  them, 

And  make  his  cause  our  care. 

Cervantes  says  "every  man  is  the  son  of  his  own  works.'* 
It  was  this  constant  toil  and  the  fruit  of  it  that  prepared 
Mr.  Langston  for  his  part  in  what  God  was  preparing  for 


14  JOHN  MEECEE  LANGSTON,  LL.  D. 

the  nation.  As  early  as  1854,  in  a  convention  to  consider 
the  wisdom  of  emigrating  to  another  country,  where  they 
could  be  protected  in  their  persons  and  rights,  and  have  a 
better  opportunity  to  rise,  as  they  deserved,  Mr.  Langston 
.figured  in  what  the  records  of  the  convention  speak  of,  as 
"  a  speech  replete  with  classic  elegance."  Of  course  he  di 
rected  his  eloquence  against  the  project.  And  from  that  day 
to  the  day  he  left  Ohio  for  other  duties  in  Washington  and 
the  South,  he  was  indefatigable  in  his  efforts  for  his  own 
people. 

Among  the  most  thrilling  of  the  rescue  cases  in  the  coun 
try,  was  that  of  John  Price,  a  young  fugitive  from  slavery 
in  Kentucky.  For  several  years  he  had  been  living  in  Ober- 
lin  when  one  day  he  was  observed  by  a  Negro-catcher  on 
the  watch  for  some  other  runaway,  and  his  supposed  master 
was  notified.  The  informant  was  promised  $250  if  the  fugi 
tive  was  returned.  Getting  a  young  man  of  the  village  to 
decoy  the  fugitive  from  Oberlin,  a  party  came  upon  them, 
arrested  John,  and  took  him  to  a  hotel  in  Wellington,  a  little 
town  some  six  miles  distant.  Citizens  from  the  region  gath 
ered  around  the  hotel,  asked  for  the  warrant  by  which  the 
young  man  was  held,  and,  finally,  without  force,  took  him 
away  from  the  United  States  marshal.  In  the  company  of 
these  rescuers  were  some  of  Oberlin's  best  and  noblest  men. 
Immediately  the  whole  section  was  on  fire  at  the  attempted 
outrage.  This  rescue  has  gone  into  history  as  the  Ober- 
lin-Wellington  rescue,  We  refer  to  it,  not  merely  as  show 
ing  what  was  going  on  between  the  two  sections  of  the 
country,  but,  also,  to  show  what  was  in  the  blood  of  the 
Langston  race.  Mr.  Langston' s  half  brother,  William,  was 
the  man  at  whose  instance  Colonel  Gooch  was  arrested  on 
the  charge  of  kidnapping.  Charles  was  another  half-brother. 
That  he  was  a  man  of  great  eloquence  is  evident  from  his 


JOHN  MERCER  LANGSTON,  LL.  D.  15 

speech  in  the  court  when  asked  by  the  judge  if  he  had  any 
thing  to  say  why  sentence  should  not  be  passed  against  him. 
He  had  been  convicted  of  complicity  with  others,  some  of 
the  best  citizens  of  Oberlin,  among  them  one  who'  after 
ward  became  Mr.  Langston's  brother-in-law,  Hon.  O.  S.  B. 
Wall,  of  Washington,  in  this  rescue.  I  quote  from  a  vol 
ume  which  contains  a  full  history  of  the  affair.  And  I  do 
this  not  only  from  my  own  view  of  the  fitness  of  the  quota 
tion,  but  because  Mr.  Langston  himself,  from  a  sense  of 
what  he  owes  this  half-brother  and  from  the  highest  appre 
ciation  of  his  native  gifts,  has  suggested  it. 

The  scene  is  in  Cleveland,  Ohio;  the  date  May  12,  1859, 
and  comment  is  unnecessary. 

THE  COURT  to  Mr.  Charles  Langston :  "You  have  been 
tried  by  a  jury  and  convicted  of  a  violation  of  the  criminal 
laws  of  the  United  States.  Have  you  or  your  counsel  any 
thing  to  say  why  the  sentence  of  the  law  should  not  be  pro 
nounced  upon  you  ?  " 

This  was  Mr,  Langston's  reply  :  "I  am  for  the  first  time 
in  my  life  before  a  court  of  justice,  charged  with  the  viola 
tion  of  law,  and  am  now  to  be  sentenced.  But  before  receiv 
ing  that  sentence  I  purpose  to  say  one  or  two  words  in  re 
gard  to  the  mitigation  of  that  sentence,  if  it  may  be  so  con 
strued.  I  cannot,  and  of  course  do  not  expect,  that  any 
thing  I  shall  say  will  in  any  way  change  your  predetermined 
line  of  action.  I  ask  no  such  favor  at  your  hands.  I  know 
that  the  courts  of  this  «ountry,  that  the  laws  of  this  country, 
that  the  governmental  machinery  of  the  country  are  so  con 
stituted  as  to  oppress  and  outrage  the  colored  men :  men  of 
my  complexion.  I  cannot,  then,  of  course,  expect,  judging 
from  the  past  history  of  the  country,  any  mercy  from  the 
laws,  from  the  Constitution,  or  from  the  courts  of  the 
country. 


16  JOHN  MEBCER  LANGSTON,  LL.  D. 

"Some  days  prior  to  the  13th  of  September,  1858,  hap 
pening  to  be  in  Oberlin  on  a  visit,  I  found  the  country  round 
about  there  and  the  village  itself  filled  with  alarming  rumors 
as  to  the  fact  that  slave-catchers,  kidnappers,  Negro-stealers, 
were  lying  hidden  and  skulking  about,  waiting  some  oppor 
tunity  to  get  their  bloody  hands  on  some  helpless  creature, 
to  drag  him  back,  or  to  drag  him  for  the  first  time,  into  hope 
less  and  life-long  bondage.    These  reports  becoming  current 
all  over  that  neighborhood,  old  men  and  women  and  innocent 
children  became  exceedingly  alarmed  for  their  safety.     It 
was  not  uncommon  to  hear  mothers  say  that  they  durst  not 
send  their  children  to  school,  for  fear  that  they  would  be 
caught  up  and  carried  off  by  the  way.     Some  of  these  peo 
ple  had  become  free  by  long  and  patient  toil  at  night,  after 
working  the  long,  long  day  for  cruel  masters,  and  then,  at 
length,  getting  money  enough  to  buy  their  liberty.     Others 
had  become  free  by  means  of  the  good  will  of  their  masters. 
And  there  were*others,  who  had  become  free — to  their  ever 
lasting  honor  do  I  say  it— by  the  exercise  of  their  God -given 
powers,  by  escaping  from  the  plantation  of  their  masters, 
eluding  the  blood-thirsty  patrols  and  sentinels  so  thickly 
scattered  all  along  their  path,  outrunning  bloodhounds  and 
horses,  swimming  rivers,  and  fording  swamps,  and  reaching 
at  last,  through  incredible  difficulties,  what  they,  in  their  de 
lusion,  supposed  to  be  free  soil.     These  three  classes  were 
in  Oberlin,  trembling  alike  for  their  safety,  because  they 
well  knew  their  fate  should  these  men-hunters  get   their 
hands  on  them. 

"In  the  midst  of  such  excitement  the  13th  of  September 
was  ushered  in— a  day  ever  to  be  remembered  in  the  history 
of  that^place,  and  I  am  sure,  no  less  in  the  history  of  this 
court— in  which  these  men,  by  lying  devices,  decoyed  into  a 
place,  where  they  could  get  their  hands  on  him— I  will  not 


JOHN  MEECEE  LANGSTON,  LL.  D.  17 

say  a  slave,  for  I  do  Dot  know  that ;  but  a  man,  a  brother, 
who  had  a  right  to  hie  liberty  under  the  law  of  God,  under 
ttie  laws  of  Nature,  and  under  the  Declaration  of  Indepen 
dence. 

"  Many  of  us  believed  there  would  not  be  courage  to  make  a 
seizure ;  but  in  the  midst  of  all  the  excitement  the  news 
came  to  us  like  a  flash  of  lightning  that  an  actual  seizure,  by 
means  of  fraudulent  pretenses,  had  been  made. 

"Being  identified  with  that  man  by  color,  by  race,  by  man 
hood,  by  sympathies  such  as  God  has  implanted  in  us  all,  I 
felt  it  my  duty  to  go  and  do  what  I  could  toward  liberating 
him.  I  had  been  taught  by  my  Revolutionary  father,  and 
by  his  honored  associates,  that  the  fundamental  law  of  this 
Government  is,  that  all  men  have  a  right  to  life  and  liberty, 
and  coming  from  the  Old  Dominion,  I  brought  into  Ohio 
these  sentiments  deeply  impressed  on  my  heart.  I  went  to 
Wellington,  and  having  learned  from  the  men  themselves 
by  what  authority  they  held  this  boy  in  custody,  I  conceived 
from  what  knowledge  I  had  of  law  that  they  had  no  right  to 
hold  him.  And  as  your  honor  has  repeatedly  laid  down  the 
law  in  this  court,  that  in  the  State  of  Ohio  a  man  is  presumed 
to  be  free  until  he  is  proved  to  be  legally  restrained  of  his 
liberty,  I  believed  that  upon  that  principle  of  law  those  men 
were  bound  to  take  their  prisoner  before  the  first  magistrate 
they  found,  and  there  establish  the  facts  set  forth  in  their 
warrant,  and  that  until  they  did  this,  every  man  had  a  right 
to  presume  their  claim  was  unfounded,  and  to  institute  such 
proceedings  for  the  purpose  of  receiving  such  an  investiga 
tion  as  he  might  find  as  warranted  by  the  laws  of  this  State- 
Now,  sir,  if  that  is  not  plain,  common  sense,  and  a  correct 
view  of  the  law,  then  I  have  been  misled  by  your  honor,  and 
by  the  prevalent  received  opinion. 

"  It  is  said  that  they  had  a  warrant.     Why,  then,  should 


18  JOHN  MEECER  LANGSTON,  LL.  D. 

they  not  establish  its  validity  before  the  proper  officers  ?  And 
I  stand  here  to-day,  sir,  to  say,  that,  with  an  exception,  of 
which  I  shall  soon  speak,  to  procure  such  a  lawful  investiga 
tion  of  the  authority  under  which  they  claimed  to  act,  was 
the  part  I  took  in  that  day's  proceedings,  and  the  only  part, 
I  supposed  it  to  be  my  duty  as  a  citizen  of  Ohio — excuse  me 
for  saying  that,  sir — as  an  outlaw  of  the  United  States  [much 
sensation],  to  do  what  I  could  to  secure  at  least  this  form  of 
justice  to  my  brother  whose  liberty  was  in  peril.  Whatever 
more  than  that  has  been  sworn  to  on  this  trial,  as  an  act  of 
mine,  is  false,  ridiculously  false.  When  I  found  these  men 
refusing  to  go,  according  to  the  law,  as  I  apprehend  it,  and 
subject  their  claim  to  an  official  inspection,  and  that  nothing 
short  of  a  habeas  corpus  would  oblige  such  an  inspection,  I 
was  willing  to  go  even  thus  far,  supposing  in  that  county  a 
sheriff  might,  perhaps,  be  found  with  nerve  enough  to  serve 
it.  In  this  again  I  failed.  Nothing  then  was  left  to  me, 
nothing  to  the  boy  in  custody,  but  the  confirmation  of  my 
first  belief  that  the  pretended  authority  was  worthless,  and 
the  employment  of  those  means  of  liberation  which  belong 
to  us  all.  With  regard  to  the  part  I  took  in  the  forcible  res 
cue  which  followed  I  have  nothing  to  say,  farther  than  I 
have  already  said.  The  evidence  is  before  you.  It  is  alleged 
that  I  said,  '  we  will  have  him  any  how.'  This  I  never  said. 
I  did  say  to  Mr.  Lowe,  what  I  honestly  believed  to  be  the 
truth,  that  the  crowd  was  very  much  excited,  many  of  them 
averse  to  longer  delay  and  bent  upon  a  rescue  at  all  hazards  ; 
and  that  he  being  an  old  acquaintance  and  friend  of  mine, 
I  was  anxious  to  extricate  him  from  the  dangerous  position 
he  occupied,  and,  therefore,  advised  that  he  urge  Jennings  to 
give  the  boy  up.  Further  than  this  I  did  not  say,  either  to 
him  or  to  any  one  else. 


MERCEB  LANGSTON,  LL.  D.  19 

"The  law  under  which  I  am  arraigned  is  an  unjust  one, 
one  made  to  crush  the  colored  man,  and  one  that  outrages 
every  feeling  of  humanity,  as  well  as  every  rule  of  right.  I 
have  nothing  to  do  with  its  constitutionality;  and  about  it  I 
care  a  great  deal  less.  I  have  often  heard  it  said  by  learned 
and  good  men  that  it  is  unconstitutional ;  I  remember  the 
excitement  that  prevailed  throughout  all  the  free  States  when 
it  was  passed  ;  and  I  remember  how  often  it  has  been  said  by 
individuals,  conventions,  communities,  and  legislatures,  that 
it  never  could  bc,nev-2r  should  be,  and  never  was  meant  to  be 
enforced.  I  had  always  believed,  until  the  contrary  appeared 
in  the  actual  institution  of  proceedings,  that  the  provisions 
of  this  odious  statute  would  never  be  enforced  within  the 
bounds  of  this  State. 

"But  I  have  another  reason  to  offer  why  I  should  not  be 
sentenced,  and  one  that  I  think  pertinent  to  the  case.  I 
have  not  had  a  trial  before  a  jury  of  my  peers.  The  common 
law  of  England — and  you  will  excuse  me  for  referring  to 
that,  since  I  am  but  a  private  citizen  and  not  a  lawyer — was 
that  every  man  should  be  tried  before  a  jury  of  men  occupy 
ing  the  same  position  in  the  social  scale  with  himself.  That 
lords  should  be  tried  before  a  jury  of  lords  ;  that  peers  of  the 
realm  should  be  tried  before  peers  of  the  realm ;  vassals 
before  vassals,  and  aliens  before  aliens,  and  they  must  not 
come  from  the  district  where  the  crime  was  committed,  lest 
the  prejudice  of  either  personal  friends  or  foes  should  affect 
the  accused.  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  guaran 
tees,  not  merely  to  its  citizens,  but  to  all  persons,  a  trial  before 
an  impartial  jury.  I  have  had  no  such  trial. 

"  The  colored  man  is  oppressed  by  certain  universal  and 
deeply  fixed  prejudices.  Those  jurors  are  well-known  to  have 
shared  largely  in  these  prej  udices,  and  I  therefore  consider  they 


20  JOHN  MEECEE  LANGSTON,  LL.  D. 

were  neither  impartial,  nor  were  they  a  jury  of  my  peers.  And 
the  prejudices  which  white  people  have  against  colored  men 
grow  out  of  this  fact :  that  we  have,  as  a  people,  consented  for 
two  hundred  years  to  be  slaves  of  the  whites.  We  have  been 
scourged,  crushed,  and  cruelly  oppressed,  and  have  submitted 
to  it  all  tamely,  meekly,  peaceably  ;  I  mean  as  a  people,  and 
with  rare  individual  exceptions  ;  and  to-day  you  see  us  thus; 
meekly  submitting  to  the  penalties  of  an  infamous  law.  Now 
the  Americans  have  this  feeling,  and  it  is  an  honorable  one, 
that  they  will  respect  those  who  will  rebel  at  oppression,  but 
despise  those  who  tamely  submit  to  outrage  and  wrong ;  and 
while  our  people  as  a  people  submit,  they  will  as  a  people  be 
despised.  Why,  they  will  hardly  meet  on  terms  of  equality 
with  us  in  a  whiskey  shop,  in  a  car,  at  a  table,  or  even  at  the 
altar  of  God.  So  thorough  and  hearty  a  contempt  have  they 
for  those  who  will  meekly  lie  still  under  the  heel  of  the 
oppressor.  The  jury  came  into  the  box  with  that  feeling. 
They  knew  they  had  that  feeling,  the  court  itself  has  that 
feeling,  and  even  the  counsel  who  defended  me  have  that 
feeling.  > 

"I  was  tried  by  a  jury  who  were  prejudiced;  before  a 
court  that  was  prejudiced;  prosecuted  by  an  officer  who  was 
prejudiced,  and  defended,  though  ably,  by  counsel  that  were 
prejudiced.  And  therefore  it  is,  your  honor,  that  I  urge  by 
all  that  is  good  and  great  in  manhood,  that  I  should  not  be 
subjected  to^the  pains  and  penalties  of  this  oppressive  law, 
when  I  have  not  been  tried,  either  by  a  jury  of  my  peers,  or 
by  a  jury  that  were  impartial. 

"One  more  word,  sir,  and  I  have  done.  I  went  to  Well 
ington,  knowing  that  colored  men  have  no  rights  in  the 
United  States  which  white  men  are  bound  to  respect ;  that 
the  courts  had  so  decided ;  that  Congress  had  so  enacted ; 
that  the  people  had  so  decreed. 


JOHN  MERCER  LANGSTON*  LL.  D.  21 

"  There  is  not  a  spot  in  this  wide  country,  not  even  by  the 
altars  of  God,  nor  in  the  shadow  of  the  shafts  that  tell  the 
imperishable  fame  and  glory  of  the  heroes  of  the  Revolution ; 
no,  nor  in  the  old  Philadelphia  hall,  where  any  colored  man 
may  dare  to  ask  a  mercy  of  a  white  man.  Let  me  stand  in 
that  hall,  and  tell  a  United  States  marshal  that  my  father 
was  a  Revolutionary  soldier;  that  he  served  under  Lafay 
ette,  and  fought  through  the  whole  war;  and  that  he  told 
me  that  he  fought  for  my  freedom  as  much  as  for  his  own ; 
and  he  would  sneer  at  me,  and  clutch  me  with  his  bloody 
fingers,  and  say  he  had  a  right  to  make  me  a  slave  !  And 
when  I  appeal  to  Congress,  they  say  he  has  a  right  to  make 
me  a  slave ;  when  I  appeal  to  the  people,  they  say  he  has  a 
right  to  make  me  a  slave,  and  when  I  appeal  to  your  honor, 
your  honor  says  he  has  a  right  to  make  me  a  slave,  and  if 
any  man,  white  or  black,  seeks  an  investigation  of  that 
claim,  he  makes  himself  amenable  to  the  pains  and 
penalties  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act ;  for  black  men  have  no 
rights  which  white  men  are  bound  to  respect.  [Great  ap 
plause.]  I,  going  to  Wellington  with  the  full  knowledge  of 
all  this,  knew  that  if  that  man  was  taken  to  Columbus,  he  was 
hopelessly  gone,  no  matter  whether  he  had  ever  been  in  slav 
ery  before  or  not.  I  knew  that  I  was  in  the  same  situation 
myself,  and  that  by  the  decision  of  your  honor,  if  any  man 
whatever  were  to  claim  me  as  his  slave  and  seize  me,  and 
my  brother,  being  a  lawyer,  should  seek  to  get  out  a  writ  of 
habeas  corpus  to  expose  the  falsity  of  the  claim,  he  would  be 
thrust  into  prison  under  one  provision  of  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Law,  for  interfering  with  the  man  claiming  to  be  in  pursuit 
of  a  fugitive;  and  I,  by  the  perjury  of  a  solitary  wretch, 
would,  by  another  of  its  provisions,  be  helplessly  doomed 
to  life-long  bondage,  without  the  possibility  of  escape. 


22  JOHN  MEECEE  LANGSTON,  LL.  D. 

"  Some  persons  may  say  there  is  no  danger  of  free  per 
sons  being  seized  and  carried  off  as  slaves.  No  one  need 
labor  under  such  a  delusion.  Sir,  four  of  the  eight  persons 
who  were  first  carried  back  under  the  act  of  1850  were  after 
wards  proved  to  be  free  men.  The  pretended  owner  de 
clared  that  they  were  not  his,  after  his  agent  had  '  satisfied 
the  commissioner '  that  they  were,  by  his  oath.  They  were 
free  persons,  but  wholly  at  the  mercy  of  one  man.  And  but 
last  Sabbath  afternoon  a  letter  came  to  me  from  a  gentle 
man  in  St.  Louis,  informing  me  that  a  young  lady,  who  wa& 
formerly  under  my  instruction  at  Columbus,  a  free  person, 
is  now  lying  in  the  jail  at  that  place,  claimed  as  the  slave 
of  some  wretch  who  never  saw  her  before,  and  waiting  for 
testimony  from  relatives  at  Columbus  to  establish  her  free 
dom.  I  could  stand  here  by  the  hour  and  relate  such  in 
stances.  In  the  very  nature  of  the  case  they  must  be  con 
stantly  occurring.  A  letter  was  not  long  since  found  upon 
the  person  of  a  counterfeiter  when  arrested,  addressed  to 
him  by  some  Southern  gentleman,  in  which  the  writer  says  : 

"  '  Go  among  the  niggers;  find  out  their  marks  and  scars; 
make  good  descriptions  and  send  to  me,  and  I'll  find  masters 
for  them.' 

"  That  is  the  way  men  are  carried  « back '  to  slavery. 

"  But  in  view  of  all  the  facts  I  say,  that  if  ever  again  a 
man  is  seized  near  me,  and  is  about  to  be  carried  South 
ward  as  a  slave  before  any  legal  investigation  has  been  had, 
I  shall  hold  it  to  be  my  duty,  as  I  held  it  that  day,  to  secure 
for  him,  if  possible,  a  legal  inquiry  into  the  claim  by  which 
he  is  held.  And  I  go  farther;  I  say  that  if  it  is  adjudged 
illegal  to  procure  even  such  an  investigation,  then  we  are 
thrown  back  upon  those  last  defences  of  our  rights,  which 
cannot  be  taken  from  us,  and  which  Gocl  gave  us  that  we 
need  not  be  slaves.  I  ask  your  honor,  while  I  say  this,  to 


JOHN  MERCER  LANGSTON,  LL.  D.  2$ 

place  yourself  in  my  situation,  and  you  will  say  with  me 
that  if  your  brother,  if  your  friend,  if  your  wife,  if  your 
child,  had  been  seized  by  men  who  claimed  them  as  fugi 
tives,  and  the  law  of  the  land  forbade  you  to  ask  any  inves 
tigation,  and  precluded  the  possibility  of  any  legal  protec 
tion  or  redress — then  you  will  say  with  me,  that  you  would 
not  only  demand  the  protection  of  the  law,  but  you  would 
call  in  your  neighbors  and  your  friends,  and  would  ask 
them  to  say  with  you,  that  these  your  friends  should  not  be 
taken  into  slavery. 

"  And  now  I  thank  you  for  this  leniency,  this  indulgence, 
in  giving  a  man  unjustly  condemned,  by  a  tribunal  before 
which  he  is  declared  to  have  no  rights,  the  privilege  of 
speaking  in  his  own  behalf.     I  know  that  it  will  do  nothing 
toward  mitigating  your  sentence,  but  it  is  a  privilege  to  be 
allowed  to  speak,  and  I  thank  you  for  it.     I  shall  submit  to- 
the  penalty,  be  it  what  it  may.     But  I  stand  up  here  to 
say,  that  if  for  doing  what  I  did  on  that  day  at  Wellington, 
I  am  to  go  into  jail  six  months,  and  pay  a  fine  of  a  thousand 
dollars,  according  to  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  and  such  is  the 
protection  the  laws  of  this  country  afford  me,  I  must  take 
upon  myself  the  responsibility  of  self-protection;  and  when 
I  come  to  be  claimed  by  some  perjured  wretch  as  his  slave, 
I  shall  never  be  taken  into  slavery.     And  as  in  that  trying 
hour  I  would  have  others  do  to  me,  as  I  would  call  upon  my 
friends  to  help  me ;  as  I  would  call  upon  you,  your  honor, 
to  help  me;  as  I  would  call  upon  you  [to  the  district, attor 
ney]  to  help  me ;  and  upon  you  [to  Judge  Bliss],  and  upon 
you  [to  his  counsel],  so  help  me  God !  I  stand  here  to  say 
that  I  will  do  all  I  can,  for  any  man  thus  seized  and  held, 
though  the  inevitable  penalty  of  six  months'  imprisonment 
and  one  thousand  dollars  fine  for  each  offence  hangs  over 
me!     We  have  a  common  humanity.     You  would  do  so;. 


24  JOHN  MEBCEE  LANGSTON,  LL.  D. 

your  manhood  would  require  it;  and  no  matter  what  the 
laws  might  be,  you  would  honor  yourself  for  doing  it ;  your 
friends  would  honor  you  for  doing  it ;  your  children  to  all 
generations  would  honor  you  for  doing  it ;  and  every  good 
and  honest  man  would  say  you  had  done  right ! "  [Great 
and  prolonged  applause  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  the  court 
and  the  marshal.] 

The  COURT  :  "  These  manifestations  cannot  be  allowed 
here.  The  marshal  l^as  orders  to  clear  the  room  if  they  are 
repeated. 

"  You  have  done  injustice  to  the  court,  Mr.  Langston,  in 
thinking  that  nothing  you  might  say  could  effect  a  mitiga 
tion  of  your  sentence.  You  have  presented  considerations 
to  which  I  shall  attach  much  weight. 

"  I  am  fully  aware  of  the  evidence  that  was  given  to  the 
jury ;  of  the  circumstances  that  were  related ;  of  your  action 
in  relation  to  the  investigation  of  the  cause  of  the  detention 
of  the  fugitive,  and  of  your  advice  to  others  to  pursue  a 
legal  course ;  and  although  I  am  not  disposed  to  question 
the  integrity  of  the  jury,  still  I  see  mitigating  circumstances 
in  the  transaction  which  should  not  require,  in  my  opinion, 
the  extreme  penalty  of  the  law.  This  court  does  not  make 
laws ;  that  belongs  to  another  tribunal.  We  sit  here  under 
the  obligations  of  an  oath  to  execute  them,  and  whether  they 
be  bad  or  whether  they  be  good,  it  is  not  for  us  to  say.  We 
appreciate  fully  your  condition,  and  while  it  excites  the  cor 
dial  sympathies  of  our  better  natures,  still  the  law  must  be 
vindicated.  On  reflection,  I  am  constrained  to  say  that  the 
penalty  in  your  case  should  be  comparatively  light.  It  is, 
therefore,  the  sentence  of  the  court,  that  you  pay  a  fine  of 
one  hundred  dollars;  that  you  be  confined  in  the  jail  at 
Cuyahoga  county,  under  the  direction  of  the  marshal,  for  a 
period  of  twenty  days  from  date;  and  that  you  pay  the  cost 


JOHN  MERCER  LANGSTON,  LL.  D.  25 

of  this  prosecution ;  and  that  in  case  any  casualty  or  other 
occurrence  should  render  your  confinement  there  insecure, 
that  the  marshal  see  the  sentence  executed  in  any  other 
county  jail  within  this  district." 

For  eleven  years  Mr.  Langston  was  a  member  of  the  Board 
of  Education  at  Oberlin,  and  when  he  retired  from  the  board 
to  answer  the  summons  of  Gen.  O.  O.  Howard  and  became 
general  inspector  of  education  under  the  Bureau  of  Refugees, 
Freedmen  and  Abandoned  Lands,  they  passed  unanimous 
resolutions  of  confidence  and  regret,  which  only  confirmed 
the  wisdom  of  General  Howard's  selection. 

For  three  years,  from  1867,  when  he  went  to  Washington, 
Mr.  Langston  served  the  bureau  above  named,  visiting  prom 
inent  cities  in  the  South,  and  always  addressing  large  assem 
blies  of  colored  and  white  people  wherever  he  went.  It  may 
well  be  imagined  that  such  a  representative  speaker  of  his 
own  race,  manly,  straightforward  and  graceful,  would  show 
the  possibilities  which  were  before  them,  and  awaken  among 
them  great  enthusiasm.  This  was  the  case.  All  over  the 
South  his  addresses  on  education  were  warmly  received  and 
wrought  wonders.  Just  take  these  selections  as  samples  of 
his  manner.  They  are  extracted  from  an  address  made 
before  the  Colored  Educational  Convention  held  in  Louis 
ville,  Kentucky,  July  14,  1869  : 

\  "  In  the  spirit  of  liberty  and  charity  I  come  to  speak  to 
you  this  afternoon  as  an  earnest  American  citizen.  Since  I 
am  earnest  and  you  are  earnest,  you  will  not  ask  me  to  flatter 
you.  Office  I  care  not  for;  political  preferment  I  ask  not 
in  anything,  and  I  care  not  for  the  success  of  one  party  more 
than  for  the  success  of  another.  I  simply  ask  that  the  colored 
American  in  the  providence  of  God,  coming  out  of  slavery 
into  the  noonday  of  liberty,  may  understand  what  liberty  is; 
what  its  responsibilities  are ;  what  duties  are  implied  in  it, 

B 


26  JOHN  MERCER  LANtiSTON,  LL.  D. 

and  meet  these  responsibilities  and  these  duties  with  a  fair 
opportunity  given  him,  to  take  his  place,  ere  long,  side  by 
side  with  the  best  men — the  best  men  in  this  country  or  in 
any  other — as  a  man.  Is  achievement  the  measure  and  test 
of  quality  ?  It  has  been  all  along  through  the  days  of  old 
time.  There  has  been  no  change  made  by  God  since  our 
emancipation.  We  are  not  asking  to  be  made  the  social 
peer  of  Charles  Sumner,  President  Grant  or  Schuyler  Col- 
fax,  or  any  other  learned  or  distinguished  white  American 
statesman.  Not  at  all.  But  I  am  here  to  ask  whether,  with 
our  hair  curled  and  faces  sooty,  as  they  are,  our  condition 
two  hundred  and  forty-five  years  of  slavery,  whether  we  can 
step  out  in  the  liberty  of  new  life  by  hard  work,  and  place 
ourselves  alongside  with  the  best  men  of  this  country 
and  the  best  men  of  the  world  ?  Let  me  illustrate.  You 
give  a  colored  man  that  is  very  poor  to-day  exactly  the 
same  chance  you  give  a  white  man  who  is  also  very 
poor.  You  start  them  in  the  race  of  life  ;  both  go  to 
college  together  ;  they  leave  college  together,  and  enter 
the  professional  school ;  they  enter  from  that  into  the 
battle  of  life,  both  successful,  and  grow  rapidly  in  the  pub 
lic  esteem.  The  colored  man  is  married  the  same  as  the 
white  man,  and  they  locate  in  beautiful  homes,  with  the 
profits  of  their  business.  This  is  a  law  that  works 'without 
obstruction  or  hindrance.  No  man  can  obstruct  it.  One  of 
the  finest  men  in  this  country,  looking  from  a  social  stand 
point,  to  say  nothing  of  his  moral  character,  nothing  of  his 
intellectual  worth,  is  a  Negro ;  who,  before  slavery  was  abol 
ished,  went  in  the  society  of  the  best  men  in  England  and 
France  or  in  any  country  he  visited ;  was  the  bosom-friend 
of  Charles  Sumner  and  Schuyler  Colfax ;  and  when  he  goes 
into  the  presence  of  the  President  of  the  United  States,  the 
President,  leaving  his  chair,  advances  into  the  middle  of  the 


JOHN  MERCEE  LANGSTON,  LL.  D.  27 

room  to  take  the  Negro  by  the  hand.  Need  I  call  his  name? 
What  Frederick  Douglass  is  to-day  or  may  be  to-morrow, 
my  young  friends,  in  the  morning  of  life,  in  the  midst  of  the 
new  struggles  and  opportunities  of  life,  may  also  be.  Doug 
lass  did  not  have  law  and  theological  schools  open  to  him. 
I  need  not  exhort  you  to  become  great;  you  will  in  spite  of 
yourselves.  First,  then,  you  must  have  character.  Next, 
you  must  have  intellectual  ability.  Then  get  money  and 
learn  how  to  keep  it.  And  when  you  have  fitted  yourself 
for  a  place,  when  you  have  achieved  it,  society  will  make 
ready  for  you." 

In  October,  1868,  the  law  department  of  Howard  Univer 
sity  was  organized,  and  Mr.  Langston  was  chosen  dean  of 
the  department.  Here  he  was  at  his  best.  Enthusiastically 
fond  of  the  law,  with  a  high  ideal  for  his  pupils,  and  with 
original  methods  of  instruction,  he  succeeded  at  once  in 
drawing  some  of  the  brightest  minds  of  the  period  to  him 
self.  Indeed,  for  the  time,  this  department  overshadowed 
the  other  two,  while  the  work  most  needed  for  the  colored  *, 
people,  in  the  theological  department,  was  at  a  disadvantage, 
and  the  work  in  which  the  university  has  since  been  so  in 
fluential,  namely,  that  of  the  medical  department,  was  com 
paratively  slight.  Among  Mr.  Langston' s  methods  was  a 
lesson  each  Sunday  morning,  on  the  Laws  of  Moses — really 
a  law  lesson  from  the  Bible.  How  instructive  such  an  ex 
ercise  might  be  made,  any  one  familiar  with  the  indebted 
ness  of  humanity  to  Hebrew  legislation,  as  given  in  such  a 
treatise  as  that  of  "  Michaelis  on  the  Laws  of  Moses,"  can 
readily  see.  It  was  Mr.  Langston' s  happy  faculty,  too,  to 
interest  in  his  work  such  men  as  Senator  Sumner,  who  once 
delivered  an  address  to  the  graduating  class,  and  Ralph 
Waldo  Emerson,  who  once  took  the  Sunday  morning  hour/ 
and  talked  to  the  students  on  Reading.  For  a  short  time, 


28  JOHN  MEECER  LANGSTON,  LL.  D. 

also,  Mr.  Langston  was  acting- president  of  the  university, 
which  conferred  upon  him  the  honorary  degree  of  LL.  D. 

For  seven  years  from  1870,  Mr.  Langston  was  a  member, 
and  the  law-officer  of  the  Board  of  Health  of  the  District  of 
Columbia,  and  when  he  retired  was  tendered  by  them  [an 
entertainment,  at  which  they  were  pleased  to  express  for  him 
their  warmest  appreciation  and  their  best  wishes  for  his  suc 
cess  in  the  new  position  which  President  Hayes  had  asked 
him  to  accept.  That  this  Government  should  be  represented 
abroad  by  some  of  her  best  colored  men  was  the  wish  of 
both  President  Grant  and  President  Hayes.  For  the  Re 
public  of  Haiti  there  could  be  found  no  more  suitable  se 
lection  than  Mr,  Langston.  A  diplomat  by  very  nature,  of 
easy  manner  and  gentlemanly  address,with  his  ready  mastery 
of  the  French,  his  service  of  more  than  six  years  has  proved 
the  wisdom  of  the  selection.  His  career  in  Haiti  opened 
under  the  most  favorable  auspices.  Bishop  Holly  states 
that  his  address  to  the  President  made  a  profound  impres 
sion  on  the  country.  The  varied  functions  of  his  office, 
both  consular  and  diplomatic,  he  has  most  admirably  dis 
charged.  He  has  addressed  himself  to  the  promotion  of  the 
commercial  interests  of  this  country  and  to  the  care  of  dis 
tressed  seamen.  Through  his  influence  American  calicoes 
are  now  imported,  and  Haitian  coffee  no  longer  sent  mainly 
to  France[and  England.  He  has  also  succeeded  in  endear 
ing  himself  to  the  representatives  of  other  governments  resi 
dent  on  the  island,  being  their  sub-dean,  and  sometimes  act 
ing  as  their  presiding  officer. 

Though  living  abroad,  Mr,  Langston  keeps  up  the  most  in 
timate  acquaintance  with  the  public  affairs  of  his  country, 
and  few  men,  among  the  eminent  men  who  have  discussed 
such  affairs,  are  his  superiors  upon  the  slump ;  and  whenever 
he^returns  home  for  a  vacation  his  services  are  always  in 


JOHN  MERCER  LAJVGSTON,  LL.  D.  29 

demand.  An  incident  really  occurring  immediately  after 
the  close  of  the  war,  and  narrated  in  one  of  the  local  news 
papers  of  the  day,  is  of  such  thrilling  interest,  and  is  so 
well  told,  that  we  transcribe  it.  It  illustrates  the  extremes 
of  this  man's  life ;  the  compensations  which  God  has  brought 
in 4  diiferent  degrees  to  thousands  of  other  men.  To  few, 
however,  to  such  a  degree  as  to  Mr.  Langston. 

The  Washington  Star  says  : — "After  the  close  of  the 'War 
of  the  Rebellion,  in  1866, 1867,' and  1868,  when  the  Southern 
States  wore  temporarily  under  military  government,  I  was  an 
army  officer  stationed  at  Gordonsville,  Va.,  and  charged  with 
the  reconstruction  affairs  of  Orange  and  Liuisa  counties.  In 
establishing  schools  for  the  newly-liberated  blacks  and  attend 
ing  to  public  business  at  the  county  seats,  I  became  quite 
well  acquainted  with  the  people.  Oae  of  their  peculiarities 
was  that  once  a  month  in  each  county  on  "court  day"  a  large 
part  of  the  population  assembled  at  the  court  house,  some 
for  business,  but  many  for  a  sort  of  holiday  or  social  exchange, 
in  which  the  influence  of  intoxicatingliquor  was  too  frequent 
ly  manifest.  Oa  one  of  these  occasions  it  was  given  out  that 
John  M.  Lingston,  the  colored  orator,  now  United  States 
Minister  to  Haiti,  would  speak  at  Louisa  court-house.  The 
result  was  an  unusually  large  attendance  of  colored  people, 
so  that  the  town  was  full.  Langston  was  born  a  slave  in 
Louisa  county,  and  his  father,  an  estimable  Virginia  gentle 
man,  provided  in  his  will  that  he  should  be  liberated  and 
•educated  and  given  a  share  of  his  estate.  Although  a  long 
while  free,  and  honorably  distinguished,  there  had  never  been 
a  time  before  when  Mr.  Langston  could  safely  visit  his  na 
tive  county.  Now  he  was  to  come  back  a  leading  man  of 
his  race,  tj  speak  in  public,  and  to]  revisit  the  scenes  and  to 
recall  the  memories  of  his  childhood.  It  was  therefore  a 
great  occasion  for  him  and  for  thefreedmen  of  L')uisa  county. 


30  JOHN  MEECEE  LANGSTON,  LL.  D. 

The  white  people,  however,  Jock  little  note  of  it  or  interest  in 
it ;  although  I  had  tried  among  the  lawyers  and  some  of  the 
merchants,  and  other  principal  citizens,  to  convey  the  im 
pression  that  Langston  was  a  man  they  should  recognize  and 
respect.  I  remember  particularly  trying  to  convince  Gen 
eral  Gordon,  then  county  attorney,  and  an  excellent  man, 
that  he  might  be  pleased  with  Langston,  and  would  be  inter 
ested  if  he  came  over  to  hear  him  talk.  The  feeling  that  the 
Negro  was  in  all  cases  necessarily  inferior  and  totally  unin 
teresting  was,  however,  too  strong,  and  the  General  and  sev 
eral  others  manifested  impatience,  if  not  a  little  indignation, 
at  my  commendatory  observation  about  Langston.  They 
would  not  have  it  that  any  'nigger'  could  talk  law,  politics, 
reconstruction,  or  anything  else  with  a  degree  of  ability  and 
intelligence  to  merit  their  attention ;  and  they  could  not  im 
agine  that  they  themselves  wr re  soon  to  attest  in  a  remark 
able  manner  the  folly  of  settled  enmity  or  contempt  of  an 
entire  race  or  class  of  men. 

"Of  course  Langston  would  not  be  received  at  any  hoUl  in 
the  village,  but  I  managed  to  get  over  that  difficulty  by  en 
gaging  a  room  for  myself  at  The  American,  inviting  him  into 
it,  and  quietly  ordering  a  private  luncheon  for  two,  of  the 
best  the  house  afforded.  With  less  difficulty  a  pleasant  green, 
where  were  some  shade  trees  and  a  speaker's  platform,  was 
secured  for  Langston's  address;  and  after  luncheon,  when  a 
crowd  of  colored  people  had  assembled,  I  walked  with  him 
and  a  few  white  Republicans  (objects  of  intense  detestation  to 
the  mass  of  the  people)  to  the  platform,  I  noticed  General 
Gordon  and  a  few  of  the  prominent  citizens  around  the  out 
skirts  of  the  crowd,  within  hearing  of  the  speaker,  but  none 
seemed  to  be  really  attending  the  meeting. 

"  Langston  began  by  referring  to  old  Virginia  and  Louisa 
county  as  the  place  of  his  birth,  and  spoke  in  the  happiest 


JOHN  MEECER  LANGSTON,  LL.  D.  -31 

vein  and  with  all  the  elegance  and  oratorical  art  that  distin 
guish  him,  of  the  genuine  affection  he  felt  for  his  native  State 
and  town,  and  of  the  pleasure  it  gave  him  to  come  back  again 
to  the  home  of  his  boyhood.  In  a  few  minutes  he  had  the 
mastery  of  every  one  within  his  voice.  He  pictured  the  great 
ness  of  the  State  in  its  early  days,  referred  to  its  distinguish 
ed  men,  and  its  history  and  national  influence,  spoke  touch- 
ingty  of  its  present  temporary  depression  and  distress,  and 
most  hopefully  and  glowingly  of  its  future  promise  and  pos 
sibilities  as  a  free  State.  Then  with  admirable  taste  and 
tact  he  fell  naturally  into  a  discussion  of  the  living  questions 
of  the  day,  avoiding  all  irritating  points  and  expressions. 
In  a  little  while  I  looked  about  me  and  saw  the  platform 
and  all  available  space  near  it  and  around  it  packed  with 
white  people.  The  blacks,  accustomed  to  yielding  preced 
ence,  had  given  up  all  the  best  places  and  a  white  man  was 
wedged  into  every  one.  More  eager  interest  I  never  saw  in 
the  faces  of  any  audience.  There  was  General  Gordon 
crowding  near  Langston  with  irrepressible  confession  of 
homage  springing  from  his  eyes  and  pouring  down  his  cheeks, 
while  the  beautiful  periods,  paying  honor  to  old  Virginia, 
fell  from  the  orator's  lips.  The  address  continued  for  two 
hours  with  unflagging  interest  on  the  part  of  the  audience, 
and  closed  with  an  admirable  peroration.  Then  followed  a 
scene  of  spontaneous  enthusiasm  that  is  seldom  witnessed. 
It  "was  my  purpose  to  introduce  several  white  citizens  to 
Langston  at  the  close  of  his  speech,  but  the  excitement 
among  them  was  too  great.  They  crowded  upon  him,  as 
many  as  could  get  near,  and  fairly  overwhelmed  him  with 
the  warmth  and  energy  of  their  unconstrained  greetings  and 
compliments.  He  was  borne  by  the  pressure  into  the  dining- 
room  of  the  hotel,  and  a  grand  dinner  was  forthwith  ordered 
in  his  honor,  at  which  General  Gordon  presided,  and  many 


32-  JOHN  MEECEE  LANGSTON,  LL.  D. 

of  the  best  citizens  sat  at  the  board.  He  was  at  once  a 
guest  of  the  town,  and  no  attention  or  honor  seemed  too 
great  for  its  good  people  to  bestow  upon  him.  All  prejudice 
against  color  was  totally  extinguished.  After  dinner  the 
white  ladies  sent  a  committee  to  wait  on  him,  to  invite  him 
to  address  them  at  the  principal  church  in  the  evening.  He 
accepted  the  invitation  and  the  auditorium  was  more  than 
crowded  by  the  people  of  the  place.  Even  the  windows  and 
doorways  were  packed.  General  Gordon  escorted  him  to 
the  pulpit,  and  introduced  him  to  the  audience.  The  best 
room  in  the  hotel  was  now  opened  to  him,  and  the  next 
morning  carriages  were  provided,  and  in  company  with  a 
numerous  escort  of  gentlemen  he  was  taken  out  to  visit  the 
homestead  and  tomb  of  his  father,  and  he  did  not  forget  the 
humble  grave  of  his  darker-hued  mother,  who  is  said  to  have 
been  a  woman  of  uncommon  beauty  and  good  qualities." 

Mr.  Langston's  political  sagacity  has  never  been  at  fault. 
He  has  never  doubted  the  party  of  freedom.  When  Hon. 
Senator  Sumner  felt  impelled  to  break  with  President  Grant, 
and  finally  ally  himself  with  the  party  which  so  disastrously 
failed  under  the  leadership  of  Mr.  Greeley,  it  was  against 
Mr.  Langston's  urgent  solicitation  and  request.  Mr.  Sumner 
hesitated  and  wavered.  Certain  influential  colored  men  en 
couraged  him  that  their  people  would  follow.  Mr.  Lang- 
ston  was  better  advised.  He  saw  in  the  movement  only  a 
temporary  set-back  to  the  cause  of  freedom,  which  would 
react  upon  all  engaged  in  it.  His  predictions  proyed  more 
than  true. 

The  lessons,  which  many  colored  Americans  should  de 
rive  from  Mr.  Langston's  career,  lie  upon  the  surface  of  it. 
He  had  been  all  his  life  long  fitting  himself  for  something 
higher  and  better.  When  in  Ohio,  if  he  had  contented  him 
self  to  be  about  an  average  lawyer  ;  if  he  had  assumed  that 


JOHN  MERCER  LANGSTON,  LL.  D.  S3 

iiis  color  would  be  an  insuperable  barrier  to  recognition  and 
elevation  ;  if  he  had  not  aimed  to  do  his  very  best  in  every 
case  he  had,  there  would  have  been  no  distinguished  future 
before  him.  It  is  one  of  Carlyle's  wise  sayings,  that  the 
history  of  the  world  is  the  biography  of  great  men.  That 
is,  every  man  of  eminence  is  bound  to  be  in  all  the  promi 
nent  events  of  his  period  where  his  name  and  influence  may 
be  felt.  In  his  boyhood  Mr.  Langston  remembers  the  time 
when  he  did  not  know  he  had  a  drop  of  colored  blood  in  his 
veins.  Tracing  his  career  forward  through  school,  college, 
seminary,  law-office,  we  see  how  he  was  all  the  more  identi 
fied  with  everything  which  concerned  his  own  people,  and 
was,  therefore,  necessary  as  one  of  the  factors  which  entered 
into  the  great  struggle  between  freedom  and  slavery.  As 
early  as  1858,  as  will  be  seen  from  one  of  the  addresses  in 
this  volume,  he  was  discussing  "The  World's  Anti-Slavery 
Movement"  as  a  great  uplifting,  under  God,  of  the  oppressed 
nationalities  of  the  world.  When  the  wave  struck  this  con 
tinent  he  was  sure  to  be  found  on  the  top  of  it. 

Mr.  Langston  believed  that  the  preamble  of  the  declara 
tion  is  true  in  this  generation,  as  well  as  it  was  true  in  the 
time  of  the  Revolutionary  fathers.  He  believed,  too,  that  if 
God  had  endowed  all  mankind  with  these  rights  and  immu 
nities,  He  would  not  stand  idly  by  if  the  oppressed  made 
an  effort  to  secure  what  God  had  given  and  man  had  taken. 
Indeed,  Mr.  Langston  has  never  sought  to  rid  himself  of  the 
belief  that  every  earnest  man's  life  is  a  plan  of  God  ;  and 
not  a  little  of  his  courage  and  persistence  has  arisen  from 
this  source.  This  is  only  the  Calvinism  which  Shakespeare 
has  put  in  this  form — 

44  There  is  a  tide  in  the  affairs  of  men, 
Which,  taken  at  the  flood  leads  on  to  fortune, 
Omitted,  all  the  voyage  of  their  life 
Is  bound  in  shallows,  and  in  miseries." 


34  JOHN  MEECEE  LANGSTON,  LL.  D. 

When  the  tide  arose,  Mr.  Langston  always  embarked  all 
his  ventures,  as  though  he  believed  tnat  God  was  in  it,  and 
the  result  has  usually  shown  that  he  was  right.  That  the 
unfolding  of  his  life  has  been  largely  the  result  of  God's 
care,  one  can  see  very  plainly,  The  manumissionTof  his 
father's  slaves  at  his  death  ;  their  going  from  Virginia  to 
Ohio,  where  freedom  was  a  reality,  and  where  there  was  one 
sacred  spot  where  a  colored  man  could  be  educated  ;  his 
falling  into  the  hands  of  Christian  guardians,  especially 
into  the  hands  of  so  discreet  and  even-handed  a  guardian 
as  the  late  Dr.  George  Whipple  ;  his  training  in  Oberlin 
under  such  men  as  President  Finney  and  Professor  Morgan  ; 
his  professional  life  at  Oberlin  ;  his  connection  with  Gen. 
O.  O.  Howard,  in  the  Bureau  of  the  University  ;  his  oppor 
tunities  of  popular  address  in  the  South  ;  his  intimacy  with 
executive  circles  in  Washington,  and  finally,  the  gift  to  him 
of  a  position  of  such  great  dignity,  and  ease,  and  influence,  as 
Minister  Eesident  at  Haiti :  in  all  these  events  a  reverent 
spirit  may  readily  discern  the  leading  of  the  hand  of  Him 
without  whom  the  sparrow  falleth  not  to  the  ground. 

It  is  not  claimed  that  Mr.  Langston's  character  is  a  faultless 
one.  It  is  not  claimed  that  he  has  at  all  realized  his  own 
ideal  in  life.  But  the  attention  of  young  colored  Americans 
is  called  to  the  fact,  that  beginning  as  he  did,  thirty  years 
ago  at  the  foot  of  the  ladder,  he  has  climbed  so  high  and 
won  such  a  reputation  and  such  an  influence  simply,  by 
making  the  best  of  his  opportunities.  In  some  respects,  a 
colored  man  of  this  generation  has  advantages  over  the 
white  man  of  the  same  character  and  ability.  Circum 
stances  have  lifted  him  upon  a  pedestal.  And  if  there  be 
in  him  stuff  to  make  a  man  of,  the  people  will  not  be  slow  to 
recognize  it. 


JOHN  MERCEE  LANGSTON,  LL.  D.  35- 

When  Desdemona's  father  was  searching  for  Othello,  lago 
advised  him  to  hide  himself.  His  reply  was  : 

4 '  Not  I !  I  must  be  found. 
My  parts,  my  title  and  my  perfect  soul 
Shall  manifest  me  rightly." 

And  this  certainly  has  been  true  of  the  colored  American 
of  our  period ;  of  the  men  of  decided  character  and  ability, 
who  have  found  first  places  in  the  local  or  the  general  Gov 
ernment,  that  the  people  have  not  been  slow  to  discover  "the 
parts  and  title  and  perfect  soul"  of  every  one  of  them.  They 
have  had  seats  in  both  branches  of  the  National  Legis,aturej 
they  have  represented  the  nation  abroad,  and  they  have  done 
it  with  an  ability  and  integrity  too,  which  is,  perhaps,  more 
remarkable,  that  would  have  brought  honor  to  their  Anglo- 
Saxon  fellow-citizens. 

Carlyle  in  his  "  Sartor-Resartus"  attributes  the  difference 
between  men  mainly  to  clothes.  "  Consider,  thou  foolish 
Teufelsdrockh,  what  benefit  unspeakable  all  ages  and  sexes 
derive  from  clothes.  For  example,  when  thou  thyself,  a 
watery,  pulpy,  slobbery  freshman  and  new-comer  in  this 
planet,  sattest  mewling  and  puking  in  thy  nurse's  arms, 
sucking  thy  coral,  and  looking  forth  into  the  world  in  the 
blankest  manner,  what  hadst  thou  been  without  thy  blanket 
and  bibs  and  other  nameless  hulls?  A  terror  to  thyself  and 
mankind.  Or,  hast  thou  forgotten  the  day  when  thou  first 
receivest  breeches,  and  thy  lay  clothes  become  short  ?  The 
village  where  thou  livest  was  all  appraised  of  the  fact,  and 
neighbor  after  neighbor  kissed  thy  budding  cheek  and  gave 
thee  as  handsel,  silver  or  copper  coins,  on  that  first  gala 
day  of  thy  existence." 

And,  it  is  all  very  well  for  Burns  to  say 

"  The  rank  is  but  the  guinea's  stamp* 
The  man 's  the  gowd  for  a'  that. " 


36  JOHN  MERCER  LANGSTON,  LL.  D. 

But  true  as  it  is,  the  stamp  is  just  as  needful  for  the  currency 
of  the  guinea,  as  the  gold  itself.  That  is  the  trouble  with  that 
class  of  men  of  whom  the  poet  Gray  sings : 

"  Far  from  the  madding  crowd's  ignoble  strife, 

Their  sober  wishes  never  learned  to  stray, 
Along  the  cool,  sequestered  vale  of  life 
They  kept  the  noiseless  tenor  of  their  way." 

They  needed  the  stamp  to  give  their  gold  currency.  There 
is  something  beside  ability,  which  is  requisite  for  success 
in  life.  Sometimes  we  call  it  personal  magnetism  ;  sometimes 
something  not  so  flattering.  Really,  it  is  a  part  of  what 
Shakespeare  means  when  he  uses  the  word  "  title  "  in  the 
quotation  above.  Something  which  leads  people  to  make  way, 
as  though  in  England,  a  nobleman  were  coming.  Of  this 
nameless  something,  which  gives  the  world  assurance  of  a  man, 
Mr,  Langston  has  his  share. 

It  is  difficult  for  a  race  to  which  all  avenues  have  been  open 
from  their  birth,  to  appreciate  just  what  obstacles  a  colored 
man,  who  would  rise,  has  had  to  encounter.  But,  perhaps, 
'  the  last  obstacle  ever  overcome  is  the  sense  that  one  is  differ 
ent  from  others,  and  the  suspicion  that  everybody  regards  it 
a  sufficient  reason  for  keeping  him  back.  There  can  be  no 
confidence  reposed  in  a  man  who  is  not  confiding.  And,  if 
a  man  is  all  the  time  suspicious  that  people  mean  to  affront 
him,  he  will  be  affronted.  It  is  true  in  all  social  relations, 
that, 

u  Trifles  light  as  air, 
Are  to  the  jealous  confirmations  strong 
As  proofs  of  Holy  Writ." 

And  here  is  one  of  the  great  wrongs  which  slavery  has 
done.  It  has  put  a  mark,  like  the  mark  of  Cain,  upon  one 
branch  of  the  human  family.  It  has  made  good  the  sentence, 
which  was  pronounced  of  old,  upon  one  of  the  sons  of  Noah  : 


JOHN  MEHCEE  LANGSTON,  LL.  D.  3T 

"  A  servant  of  servants  shall  he  be  unto  his  brethren."  It 
has  made  it  a  presumption  against  any  man  of  color,  who 
would  be  anything  but  a  field-servant,  a  waiter  or  a  barber. 
Of  course,  I  would  not  imply  that  any  kind  of  work  is  dis 
honorable.  But,  it  is  a  wrong,  when  a  man  who  is  fit  for  a 
place,  or  can  fit  himself  for  it,  has  a  presumption  against  him 
because  he  is  black.  Thanks  to  the  result  of  the  civil  war, 
this  can  never  be  as  it  has  been.  Mr.  Langston  and  colored- 
men  of  his  period,  however,  had  their  destiny  fixed  before 
the  civil  war.  They  fought  their  personal  battles  on  earlier 
fields.  But,  henceforth,  it  must  be  easier  to  win  their  early 
victories  all  over  this  free  land. 

In  1855  Mr.  Langston  was  married  to  Miss  C.  M.  Wall,  of 
Oberlin,  Ohio.  The  ceremony  was  performed  by  Prof.  John 
Morgan,  for  whom  Mr.  Langston  has  always  cherished  the 
greatest  admiration  and  affection.  This  lady,  a  native  of 
North  Carolina,  and  the  daughter  and  slave  of  Col.  Stephen 
Wall,  but  emancipated  by  him  and  educated  among  the 
Quakers  of  Harveysburgh,  Ohio,  and  a  graduate  of  Oberlin^ 
has  shown  herself  equal  to  the  changes  which  have  so  rapidly 
transpired  in  the  career  of  her  husband,  and  is  as  much  at 
home  as  the  wife  of  Minister  Resident  Langston,  at  the  Re 
publican  court  of  Haiti,  as  of  lawyer  Langston,  of  Ohio. 
They  have  had  five  children,  four  of  whom  are  living,  and 
all  but  one  of  whom  are  settled  in  life  for  themselves.  Mr. 
Langston  has  always  insisted  that  his  children  should  have 
the  best  of  society,  and  the  best  opportunities  of  education. 
Glorying  in  the  influence  of  Oberlin,  most  of  his  children 
have  been  educated  there.  The  youngest  son,  Frank,  is  in 
Washington  learning  the  trade  of  a  book -binder.  Arthur,  edu 
cated  at  Oberlin,  is  principal  of  a  colored  public  school  in 
St.  Louis.  Ralph,  educated  also  at  Oberlin,  is  residing  at 
Nashville,  Tennessee,  where  he  is  in  the  mercantile  business 


38  JOHN  MERCER  LANGSTON,  LL,  D. 

and  where  resides  his  only  sister,  Mrs.  J.  C.  Napier,  also 
educated  at  Oberlin.  Mr.  Napier  was  one  of  Mr.  Langston's 
law  pupils  at  Howard  University. 

Any  one  acquainted  with  Mr.  Langston  will  see  at  a  glance 
that  he  represents  the  best  type  of  culture  among  the  col 
ored  people  of  America.  Fond  of  books,  an  indefatigable 
student,  determined  to  get  on,  ambitious  for  himself  and  for 
his  race,  with  a  quick  and  active  mind,  and  with  some  of  the 
best  of  America's  scholars  as  his  teachers  and  friends,  he  has 
enjoyed  unusual  advantages.  But  gifted  as  he  is,  his  ad 
vancement  has  been  step  by  step,  and  has  been  purchased  by 
hard  work.  With  less  massive  movement  of  mind  and  dig 
nity  of  address  than  the  great  orator  Douglass,  for  platform 
speech  he  is  keener,  and  more  magnetic.  In  person  he  is 
a  little  above  the  medium  stature,  slender  and  straight  as  an 
arrow.  For  suavity  and  grace  erf  person  he  might  be  taken 
for  a  Frenchman.  And  sometimes  as  you  look  at  his  feat 
ures  you  think  he  may  be  of  Spanish  or  Italian  descent. 
But  to-day  he  makes  his  boast  that  he  has  some  of  the 
best  blood  of  the  three  races,  so  historic  in  the  great  events  of 
the  continent :  the  Indian,  the  Negro  and  the  Anglo-Saxon. 
Mr.  Langston's  successes  have  mellowed  his  nature  and 
smoothed  away  the  asperities  which  his  early  life  had  a  ten 
dency  to  provoke.  His  honors  sit  gracefully  upon  him,  and 
whether  at  home,  as  an  accomplished  host  entertaining  his 
many  friends  in  this  District,  or  abroad  in  the  service  of  the 
Government,  he  seems  to  be  always  a  happy  and  contented 
man. 


SELECTED  ADDRESSES. 


THE 

WORLD'S  ANTI-SLAVERY  MOVEMENT; 

ITS  HEEOES  AND  ITS  TRIUMPHS  * 


LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  I  have  selected  as  an  appro 
priate  theme  upon  which  to  address  you  on  this  occasion, 
THE  WORLD'S  ANTI-SLAVERY  MOVEMENT;  ITS  HEROES  AND 
ITS  TRIUMPHS. 

The  anti-slavery  movement,  like  other  great  movements 
whose  aim  has  been  the  good  of  mankind,  has  not  been  the 
result  of  passion,  has  not  been  the  invention  of  distempered 
genius.  It  finds  its  origin  in  the  wants,  the  necessities  of 
man ;  and  its  principles  of  love  and  mercy,  of  beneficence 
and  good-will  have  their  home  in  the  bosom  of  God. 

The  paternity  of  the  anti-slavery  movement  belongs  to 
no  particular  individual,  nation  or  age.  Wherever  oppres 
sion  has  exhibited  its  hydra-head,  whether  in  the  days  of 
antiquity  or  in  modern  times,  there  the  spirit  that  animates 
and  energizes  this  grand  movement,  has  arrayed  itself  in 
hostile  and  deadly  conflict  against  it.  Indeed,  it  has  been 
the  delight  of  the  statesman,  the  philosopher,  the  poet,  and 
the  philanthropist  of  all  times,  to  leave  embalmed  in  his 
writings,  as  a  sacred  and  priceless  treasure  to  after-coming 
generations,  the  record  of  his  deep  love  of  freedom  and  his 

*  A  lecture  delivered  at  Xenia  and  Cleveland,  Ohio,  August  2d  and  3d,  1858. 
C 


42  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

intense  hatred  of  slavery.  So  we  read  in  the  writings  of 
the  great  statesman  of  Israel  words  like  the  following : 
"He  that  stealeth  a  man  and  selleth  him,  or  if  he  be  found 
in  his  hand,  he  shall  surely  be  put  to  death."  And  the 
Wise  Man  says  :  "  Envy  thou  not  the  oppressor,  and  choose 
thou  none  of  his  ways."  The  Prophet  Isaiah,  too,  asks  with 
great  pith  and  cogency:  "Is  not  this  the  fast  that  I  have 
chosen,  to  loose  the  bands  of  wickedness,  to  undo  the  heavy 
burdens,  and  to  let  the  oppressed  go  free,  and  that  ye 
break  every  yoke  ?  "  And  the  words  of  the  sacred  writers 
of  a  latter  date  are  not  less  instinct  with  the  same/sentiment. 
In  the  New  Testament  the  law  of  love  is  revealed  in  all  its 
grandeur  and  beauty  ;  for  the  great  Nazarene  Teacher 
declared  :  "Whatsoever  ye  would  that  men  should  do  to  you, 
do  ye  even  so  to  them;  for  this  is  the  law  and  the  proph 
ets."  With  great  force  and  power,  also,  have  the  writers 
of  Greece  and  Rome  expressed  themselves  on  this  subject. 
Socrates  says :  "  Slavery  is  a  system  of  outrage  and  rob 
bery."  Aristotle  says :  "  It  is  neither  for  good  nor  is  it 
just,  seeing  all  men  are  by  nature  alike  and  equal,  that  one 
should  be  lord  and  master  over  others."  And  Plato  says  : 
"  Slavery  is  a  system  of  the  most  complete  injustice."  The 
better  judgment  of  Rome  is  expressed  by  her  noble  Cicero, 
in  the  following  words  :  "  By  the  grand  laws  of  Nature  all 
men  are  born  free  and  equal,  and  this  law  is  universally 
binding  upon  all  men." 

Nor  are  Germany,  France,  Scotland,  Ireland,  England, 
or  Russia,  without  the  distinguished  honor  of  bearing  manly 
testimony  against  oppression.  Says  Grotius  :  "  Those  are 
men  stealers  who  abduct,  keep,  sell,  or  buy  slaves  or  free 
men.  To  steal  a  man  is  the  highest  kind  of  theft."  And 
the  poet  Goethe  says  : 

"  Such  busy  multitudes  I  fain  would  see 
Stand  upon  free  soil  with  a  people  free. " 


THE  WORLD'S  ANTI-SLA  VEE  Y  MO  VEMENT.    43 

A  German  writer  of  the  present  day  uses  the  following  truth 
ful  and  glowing  language  :  "  Will  you  support  by  your  vote 
a  system  that  recognizes  property  of  man  in  man  ?  A  sys 
tem  which  sanctions  the  sale  of  the  child  by  its  own  father, 
regardless  of  the  purpose  of  the  buyer  ?  What  need  is  there 
to  present  to  you  the  unmitigated  wrong  of  slavery  ?"  He 
continues  1  "  Liberty  is  no  exclusive  property ;  it  is  the  prop 
erty  of  mankind  of  all  ages.  She  is  immortal;  though 
crushed,  she  can  never  die ;  though  banished,  she  will  return; 
though  fettered,  she  will  still  be  free." 

The  Frenchman  Buffon  pays  a  deserved  compliment  to 
the  colored  man,  and  at  the  same  time  expresses  commend 
able  sympathy  and  tenderness  of  heart,  when  he  says  :  "  It 
is  apparent  that  the  unfortunate  Negroes  are  endowed  with 
excellent  hearts,  and  possess  the  seeds  of  every  human 
virtue.  I  cannot  write  their  history  without  lamenting  their 
miserable  condition."  "Humanity,"  he  continues,  "revolts 
at  those  odious  oppressions  that  result  from  avarice." 
And  Brissot  says  :  "  Slavery  in  all  its  forms,  in  all  its  de 
grees,  is  a  violation  of  divine  laws  and  a  degradation  of 
human  nature."  The  brave  spirit  of  Scotland  is  beautifully 
mirrored  in  the  truthful  words  of  Miller  :  "  The  human  mind 
revolts  at  the  serious  discussion  of  the  subject  of  slavery. 
Every  individual,  whatever  be  his  country  or  complexion, 
is  entitled  to  freedom."  More  than  half  a  century  ago  the 
immortal  Curran  gave  expression  to  these  eloquent  words  : 
"  I  speak  in  the  spirit  of  British  law,  which  makes  liberty 
commensurate  with  and  inseparable  from  British  soil ;  which 
proclaims  even  to  the  stranger  and  the  sojourner,  the  moment 
lie  sets  his  foot  upon  British  earth,  that  the  ground  on  which 
he  treads  is  holy,  and  consecrated  by  the  genius  of  univer 
sal  emancipation.  No  matter  in  what  language  his  doom 
may  have  been  pronounced;  no  matter  what  complexion, 


44  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

incompatible  with  freedom,  an  Indian  or  an  African  sun  may 
have  burnt  upon  him  ;  no  matter  in  what  disastrous  battle 
his  liberty  may  have  been  cloven  down;  no  matter  with 
what  solemnities  he  may  have  been  devoted  upon  the  altar 
of  slavery,  the  moment  he  touches  the  sacred  soil  of  Britain 
the  altar  and  the  god  sink  together  in  the  dust ;  his  soul 
walks  abroad  in  her  own  majesty,  and  he  stands  redeemed, 
regenerated,  and  disenthralled  by  the  irresistible  genius  of 
universal  emancipation."  Blackstone  says :  "  If  neither 
captivity  nor  contract  can,  by  the  plain  law  of  nature  and 
reason,  reduce  the  parent  to  a  state  of  slavery  much  less 
can  they  reduce  the  offspring."  And  the  noble  Mansfield 
says,  in  his  decision  in  the  celebrated  Summerset  case : 
"  The  state  of  slavery  is  of  such  a  nature  that  it  is  incapable 
of  being  introduced  on  any  reasons,  moral  or  political,  but 
only  by  positive  law,  which  preserves  its  force  long  after  the 
reasons,  occasion  and  time  itself,  whence  it  was  created,  is 
erased  from  the  memory.  It  is  so  odious  that  nothing  can 
be  sufficient  to  support  it  but  positive  law.  Whatever  in 
conveniences,  therefore,  may  follow  from  the  decision  I  can 
not  say  this  case  is  allowed  or  approved  by  the  law  of  En 
gland,  and  therefore  the  black  must  be  discharged." 

It  only  remains  for  me  to  do  Russia  the  justice  to  say,  in 
this  connection,  that  the  enterprise  recentty  inaugurated  by 
the  present  Emperor  for  the  emancipation  of  the  serfs,  gives 
a  new  lustre,  a  glowing  halo,  to  her  growing  reputation. 
Nor  am  I  unmindful  of  the  great  American  declaration  in 
favor  of  freedom  and  protestation  against  slavery,  which  is 
encouched  in  these  sacred  words :  "  We  hold  these  truths 
to  be  self-evident  :  that  all  men  are  created  equal,  and 
endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain  inalienable  rights, 
among  which  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness." 
Thus  the  great  men  of  every  nation  have  paid  their  devoirs 


THE  WOBL&S  ANTI-SLA  VEE  Y  MO  VEMENT.    45 

to  the  Goddess  of  Liberty.  But  this  love  and  veneration  of 
freedom  has  not  been  confined  to  those  who  possessed  men 
tal  superiority  and  distinguished  position.  The  more  lowly 
and  obscure  have  venerated  and  loved  that  divine  principle 
of  liberty  which  underlies  the  anti-slavery  movement,  and 
whose  natal  day  dates  back  to  the  memorable  hour  when 
God  breathed  into  man  the  breath  of  life,  and  man  became 
a  living  soul.  And  like  this  vital  element  implanted  in  man 
by  Deit}r,  and  of  which  it  is  an  inseparable  part,  liberty  is 
itself  immortal.  Political  assemblies  can  not  legislate  its 
destruction,  nor  can  ecclesiastical  .decrees  tarnish  the  glory 
of  its  existence. 

The  anti-slavery  movement  has  always  had  its  representa 
tive  men  ;  men  who  have  been  its  advocates,  its  champions 
and  its  heroes.  Indeed,  there  is  no  department  of  history 
which  the  anti-slavery  reformer  of  the  present  day  can-  read 
with  more  interest  and  profit  than  that  which  records  the 
noble  deeds  of  the  brave  men  whose  crowning  honor  is,  that 
they  have  labored  and  suffered  in  behalf  of  this  cause.  The 
first  representative  man  and  hero  of  the  anti-slavery  move 
ment  of  whom"  history  makes  record  is  the  Jewish  law-giver, 
who  was  appointed  to  appear  before  Pharaoh,  and  to  demand 
the  release  of  the  children*  of  Israel,  and  to  lead  them  out  of 
the  land  of  bondage  into  the  land  of  freedom.  And  now  as 
we  behold  him  "  upon  the  misty  mountain-top  of  antiquity  " 
we  can  but  admire  and  applaud  his  grand  achievements.  His 
God-appointed  mission,  his  heroic  devotion  and  indefatiga 
ble  zeal,  his  untiring  energy  and  his  glorious  success,  render 
it  altogether  fit  and  proper  that  he  should  stand  first  among 
the  representatives  of  the  anti-slavery  movement  who  con 
ducted  to  triumph  that  movement,  whose  record  is  at  once 
God's  solemn  protest  against  oppression  and  His  ineffaceable 
and  eternal  proclamation  in  favor  of  the  largest,  the  fullest 
freedom. 


46  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

Slavery  existed  in  Greece  from  her  earliest  history.  It 
existed  in  all  her  various  States,  under  different  codes  of 
laws,  with  more  or  less  severity  and  rigor.  In  Chios  the 
yoke  was  found  too  galling  to  be  borne,  and  multitudes, 
betaking  themselves  to  flight,  found  secure  and  permanent 
retreats  in  the  mountain  fastnesses  of  the  interior  of  the 
island;  and  from  these  mountain  retreats  such  fugitive 
slaves,  headed  by  the  noble  Drimacos,  met  the  expeditions 
of  the  Chians  and  vanquished  them  with  great  slaughter. 
The  Chians,  baffled  and  defeated,  were  glad  to  accept  the 
terms,  humiliating  and  mortifying  though  they  were,  proposed 
by  the  commander  of  the  insurgents,  and  thus  secure  a  truce. 
But  the  ardor  and  enthusiasm,  the  resolution  and  courage  of 
the  insurgents  were  inspired  in  a  goodly  degree  by  the  valor 
and  conduct  of  their  brave  and  daring  leader.  Drimacos 
is,  indeed,  worthy  of  the  highest  eulogium.  His  moderation 
and  wisdom,  his  generosity  and  magnanimity,  his  undying 
love  of  liberty  and  just  appreciation  of  human  rights  illus 
trate  and  distinguish  his  character..  The  very  last  act  of 
his  life  attests  the  true  nobility  of  his  soul.  The  Chians 
feared  his  power  and  influence  even  in  his  old  age ;  and, 
prompted  by  the  mean  spirit  of  oppression,  they  offered  a 
great  reward  to  any  one  who  would  capture  him  or  bring  his 
head.  The  old  hero,  fearing  the  base  work  of  treachery, 
determined  to  make  his  death,  as  he  had  already  made  his 
life,  a  holy  sacrifice  to  liberty.  And  he  did.  Calling  to 
him  a  young  man  whom  he  greatly  loved  he  said  to  him  : 
"  I  have  ever  regarded  you  with  a  stronger  affection  than 
any  other  man,  and  to  me  you  have  been  a  brother.  But 
now  the  days  of  my  life  are  at  an  end,  nor  would  I  prolong 
them.  With  you,  however,  it  is  not  so ;  youth  and  the  bloom 
of  youth  are  yours.  What  then  is  to  be  done  ?  You  must 
prove  yourself  to  possess  valor  and  greatness  of  soul ;  and 


THE  WORLD *S  ANTI-SLA  VER  Y  MO  VEMENT.    47 

since  the  State  offers  riches  and  freedom  to  whomsoever  shall 
slay  me  and  bear  them  my  head,  let  the  reward  be  yours; 
strike  it  off,  and  be  happy."  His  heart-touching  appeals 
overcame  the  young  man;  and  the  death  of  the  immortal 
Drimacos  became  the  price  of  his  freedom.  It  is  this  fugi 
tive  slave,  the  "  propitious  hero,"  as  the  Chians  afterwards 
denominated  him,  that  I  would  name  as  another  representa 
tive  character  and  hero  of  the  anti-slavery  movement. 

Roman  history,  also,  records  the  life  and  character  and 
conduct  of  a  fugitive  slave,  who,  with  propriety,  may  be 
named  as  another  hero  of  the  anti-slavery  movement.  I 
refer  to  Eunus,  the  gallant  leader  of  the  Sicilian  slaves  who 
were  twice  driven  to  rebellion  by  the  severity,  the  cruelty 
of  their  oppressors.  But  the  noblest,  the  most  magnificent 
anti-slavery  struggle  recorded  in  Roman  history  is  that  of 
the  Gladiators,  who  rose  in  rebellion  against  their  oppress 
ors  under  the  leadership  of  Spartacus.  It  is  true  that  their 
plot  was  discovered ;  but  a  small  body  broke  out,  which  was 
greatly  increased  by  the  rapid  accession  of  vast  numbers  of 
other  slaves,  when  under  the  courageous  and  skillful  gen 
eralship  of  Spartacus,  they  subdued  a  Roman  consular  army, 
and  were  not  themselves  subdued  till  after  a  struggle  of  two 
years,  and  until  sixty  thousand  of  them  had  fallen  in  battle, 
and  Spartacus  himself  fell  fighting  upon  his  knees  upon  a  heap 
of  his  enemies.  Possessing  the  strength,  the  size  and  the 
physical  endurance  that  fitted  him  to  play  the  part  of  a 
gladiator,  he  possessed,  also,  the  courage,  the  skill,  the  en 
ergy,  the  resolution  and  the  sagacity,  which  rendered  him  a 
brave  and  formidable  leader.  But  these  were  not  the  only 
qualities  which  adorned  and  embellished  his  character.  He 
possessed  a  heart  full  of  humanity,  instinct  with  the  love  of 
liberty.  It  was  this  sentiment  of  freedom  that  fired  and 
nerved  his  soul,  that  prompted  every  act  and  governed  his 


48  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

whole  life.  The  language  of  the  play,  then,  is  but  the 
natural,  the  inevitable  outburst  of  his  manly  spirit.  In 
addressing  his  fellow  gladiators  he  is  made  to  say:  "If  ye 
are  beasts,  then  stand  here  like  fat  oxen  waiting  for  the 
butcher's  knife.  If  you  are  men,  follow  me.  Strike  down 
your  guard,  gain  the  mountain  passes,  and  then  do  bloody 
work,  as  did  your  sires  at  old  Thermopylae  !  Is  Sparta  dead? 
Is  the  old  Grecian  spirit  frozen  in  your  veins  that  you  do- 
crouch  and  cower  like  a  belabored  hound  beneath  his  master's 
lash  ?  O,  comrades  !  Warriors  !  Thracians  !  If  we  must 
fight,  let  us  fight  for  ourselves  !  If  we  must  slaughter,  let  us 
slaughter  our  oppressors  !  If  we  must  die,  let  it  be  under 
the  clear  sky,  by  the  bright  waters,  in  noble,  honorable  bat 
tle  ! "  Among  the  heroes  of  the  anti-slavery  movement, 
whose  lives  and  characters  are  portrayed  in  the  historical 
annals  of  antiquity,  a  prominent  and  conspicuous  place  be 
longs  to  this  fugitive  gladiator. 

But  lest  I  weary  your  patience  in  dwelling  too  long  upon 
the  anti-slavery  struggles  of  distant  antiquity,  and  upon 
the  character  and  lives,  the  daring  and  achievements  of  their 
master  spirits,  I  will  come  at  once  to  the  history  of  certain 
anti-slavery  struggles  of  a  more  recent  date,  whose  con 
sideration  is  equally  fraught  with  interest  and  profit.  This 
brings  us  to  the  fifteenth  century,  the  last  half  of  which  is 
certainly  distinguished  for  three  things ;  first,  the  introduc 
tion  of  the  African  slave  trade,  by  Antonio  Gonzales,  a 
Portuguese  sea-captain ;  secondly,  the  discovery  of  America 
in  1492 ;  and  thirdly,  the  appropriation  of  the  then  discovered 
West  India  Islands  by  the  Spaniards,  with  the  reduction  of 
the  natives  to  slavery.  These  natives  are  said  to  have  been 
a  listless,  improvident  people,  of  small  endurance,  and  ill 
suited  to  the  hard  labor  and  cruel  usage  of  slaves.  Their 
sad  and  lamentable  condition  aroused  the  sympathy  of  the 


THE  WORLD'S  ANTI-SLAVERY  MOVEMENT.    49 

Dominican  priest,  Las  Casas.  Through  the  energetic  and 
persevering  endeavors  of  this  advocate  of  the  Indians,  a 
favorable  impression  was  made  in  their  behalf.  But  "the 
relaxation"  in  favor  of  the  Indian  slave  was  only  secured  at 
the  expense  of  the  African.  As  early  as  1503  a  few  Afri 
can  slaves  had  been  brought  across  the  Atlantic.  Indeed, 
according  to  Bancroft,  there  were  such  numbers  of  Africans 
in  Hispaniola  at  this  time  that  Ovando,  the  governor  of 
the  island,  entreated  that  the  importation  might  no  longer 
be  permitted.  The  first  anti-slavery  movement  upon  this 
continent,  however,  in  favor  of  the  African  slave  was  an 
insurrection  in  New  Segovia.  Two  hundred  and  fifty  of  the 
slaves,  who  belonged  in  the  governments  of  Venezuela  and 
Santa  Marta,  prompted  not  by  their  natural  fierceness  and 
arrogance,  as  the  Spanish  historian  would  have  us  believe, 
but  by  their  love  of  liberty  and  their  determination  to  be 
free,  gathered  themselves  together  and  made  a  desperate 
struggle  for  their  freedom.  It  is  true  that  they  were  over 
powered  and  put  to  the  sword.  But  their  attempt,  their 
manly  struggle,  though  they  were  defeated,  challenges  our 
admiration. 

The  first  importation  of  slaves  from  Africa  by  the  English 
was  made  during  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth  in  1562. 
The  noble  Queen  herself  is  said  to  have  doubted  the  pro 
priety  and  lawfulness  of  the  procedure.  Indeed,  she  seems 
to  have  entertained  religious  scruples  concerning  it,  and  to 
have  revolted  at  its  very  thought.  She  imposed  npon  Cap 
tain  Hawks,  the  first  Englishman  who  transported  African 
slaves  to  America,  the  most  rigid  injunctions.  Fearing  that 
the  Africans  would  be  carried  away  from  their  native  land 
without  their  consent,  she  declared  to  him  that  "  It  would 
be  detestable,  and  call  down  the  very  curse  of  Heaven  upon 
the  undertakers."  Though  thus  early  introduced  there  was 


50  FBEEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

no  well-organized  or  well-adjusted  effort  made  for  its  over 
throw  till  1787.  This  movement,  however,  had  its  fearless 
harbingers,  prominent  among  whom  were  Morgan  Godwin, 
Richard  Baxter,  Edmund  Burke,  and  the  pure-minded  and 
indomitable  Granville  Sharp,  whose  peculiar  mission  it  was 
to  establish  the  principle  that,  according  to  English  law,  as 
soon  as  a  slave  sets  his  foot  on  English  territory  his  shackles 
fall  and  he  becomes  free ;  thus  giving  a  complete  refutation 
to  the  opinion  of  York  and  Talbot,  that  a  slave  by  coming 
from  the  West  Indies  into  Great  Britain  or  Ireland,  either 
with  or  without  his  master,  does  not  become  free,  and  that 
the  master  may  legally  compel  him  to  return  to  his  planta 
tion. 

John  Wesley,  the  founder  of  Methodism,  and  George  Fox, 
the  founder  of  the  society  of  Quakers,  deserve  special  men 
tion  in  this  connection.  The  names  of  others  press  upon 
me,  but  I  must  not  tarry  to  mention  them.  In  1785  the  im 
mortal  Thomas  Clarkson  made  his  appearance,  and  took  his 
position  as  the  advocate  of  the  outraged  slaves;  as  the 
leader  of  the  movement  in  favor  of  the  abolition  of  the  slave 
trade.  His  labors  were  many  and  arduous.  But  with  a 
zeal  and  devotion  worthy  of  the  noble  cause  which  he  had 
espoused,  he  was  ready  to  make  any  sacrifice  and  meet  the 
heaviest  task.  The  movement,  however,  needed  a  represent 
ative  and  hero  in  Parliament.  This  want  was  supplied  in 
the  mild  and  amiable,  the  firm  and  courageous,  the  able  and 
laborious  Wilberforce.  It  was  at  this  time  in  the  history  of 
the  cause  that  its  friends  and  advocates  formed  themselves 
into  an  association.  Through  the  instrumentality  of  Clark- 
son  and  the  members  of  this  association  outside  of  Parlia 
ment,  and  Wilberforce,  Pitt,  Fox  and  Burke,  with  others,  in 
Parliament,  after  a  twenty-years  struggle,  in  1807,  the  slave 
trade  was  abolished.  But  the  anti-slavery  spirit  of  England 


THE  WORLD'S  ANTI-SLA  VEE  Y  MO  VEMENT.    51 

did  not  become  extinct  with  the  abolition  of  the  slave 
trade.  Its  triumph  there  only  nerved  it  for  the  work  of 
abolishing  slavery  itself,  which  reached  its  consummation 
in  ttie  emancipation  of  800,000  West  India  bondmen.  It 
is  the  glorious  triumph  of  this  movement  that  we  have  met 
to-day  to  commemorate.  And  it  is  altogether  fit  and  proper 
that  we  should  thus  commemorate  it  ;  for  it  is  one  of  the 
grandest  achievements  of  the  world's  anti-slavery  move 
ment.  It  was  not  the  result  of  a  bloody  and  cruel  war.  Its 
honor  and  glory  belong  not  to  the  prowess,  the  cunning  and 
the  skill  of  some  military  chieftain,  It  was  a  great  moral 
triumph,  whose  power  and  glory  belong  to  those  "  mild  arms 
of  truth  and  love  made  mighty  through  the  living  God." 

Upon  the  consequences  of  this  movement  many  interest 
ing  and  important  things  might  be  said  did  time  permit. 
I  will  only  say,  however,  that  emancipation  in  the  West 
Indies  has  brought  to  the  inhabitants  the  most  beneficial 
results.  To  this  assertion  all  persons  well  acquainted  with 
the  condition  of  the  planters  and  laboring  classes  of  the 
islands  will  bear  the  most  satisfactory  testimony.  The 
emancipated  classes  are  now  enjoying  the  advantages  of 
freedom;  are  devoting  themselves  to  honest  and  profitable 
industry,  and  to  the  cultivation  of  morality  and  religion. 
Now  they  enjoy  the  elective  franchise  and  are  eligible  to 
exalted  positions  of  honor  and  trust  in  the  State.  They  are 
not  only  eligible  to  such  high  offices,  but  many  of  their 
number  are  to-day  filling  them  with  great  credit  to  them 
selves  and  honor  and  profit  to  the  State.  In  both  Houses 
of  the  Legislature  of  Jamaica,  and  in  the  Privy  Council  of 
the  Governor,  are  colored  men  who  are  distinguished  for 
their  probity,  sagacity,  and  wisdom.  Indeed,  the  most 
eminent  politician  of  Jamaica,  Hon.  Edward  Jordon,  is  a 
colored  man,  and  is  said  to  be  the  principal  member  of 


52  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

Governor  Darling's  Cabinet.  He  is  also  Mayor  of  Kingston. 
But  he  is  not  the  only  colored  man  of  the  island  whos'e  posi 
tion  entitles  him  to  special  mention  in  this  connection.  The 
position  and  services  of  Vickars,  Price,  and  Walters,  not  to 
mention  others,  render  them  conspicuous  and  noteworthy. 

But  upon  this  subject,  fruitful  of  thought  and  advanta 
geous  reflection,  I  cannot  dwell.  In  leaving  it  I  would  refer 
the  incredulous  and  uninformed  to  the  able  letter  of  S.  B. 
Slack,  of  Jamaica,  upon  the  actual  results  of  emancipation 
in  that  island,  recently  published  in  the  New  York  Tribune. 

Passing  over  other  struggles  and  triumphs  of  the  anti- 
slavery  movement,  their  heroes  and  representative  men,  I 
come  at  once  to  the  bloody  contest  of  Haiti.  Unlike  the 
peaceful  triumph  of  the  emancipation  of  the  British  West 
Indies,  the  struggle  of  Haiti  was  full  of  blood,  carnage,  and 
death.  Unlike  the  emancipation  movement  of  the  West 
Indies,  also,  this  movement  was  inaugurated  and  carried  to 
triumph  by  colored  men  themselves.  They  caught  the  spirit 
of  the  French  Revolution,  and  vowed  eternal  hostility  to 
slavery.  Their  souls  were  aroused  by  the  announcement 
in  the  celebrated  Declaration  of  Rights,  "  that  all  men  are 
free  and  equal."  It  was  the  struggle  of  a  people  who,  driven 
to  desperation  by  inhuman  and  intolerable  oppression,  made 
one  last,  mighty  effort  to  throw  off  their  yoke  and  gain  their 
manhood,  and  assert  and  maintain  their  rights.  Fired  with 
this  sentiment,  they  made  that  resolution  which  always 
brings  a  glad  and  glorious  success  to  a  people  armed  in  a 
just  and  holy  cause.  The  moving  spirit  of  the  first  insur 
rection  was  James  Oge.  While  residing  in  Paris  he  made 
the  acquaintance  and  enjoyed  the  familiar  friendship  of 
Brissot,  Robespierre,  Lafayette,  and  other  revolutionists 
connected  with  the  society  Amis  des  Noirs.  From  these 
men  he  learned  his  lessons  of  freedom.  Resolving  to  become 


THE  WORLD'S  ANTI-SLAVERY  MOVEMENT.    53 

the  deliverer  of  his  race  he  returned  to  his  native  land  on 
the  12th  day  of  October,  1790,  and  announced  himself,  in 
the  language  of  the  historian,  as  the  redresser  of  his  people's 
wrongs.  He  commenced  his  work  with  a  force  two  hundred 
strong.  But  circumstances  were  not  yet  ripe  for  the  under 
taking.  Oge  was  defeated  and  compelled,  with  several  of 
his  companions,  to  take  refuge  in  the  Spanish  portion  of  the 
island.  He  was  demanded,  however,  from  the  Spaniards, 
and  in  March,  1791,  was  broken  alive  upon  the  wheel.  A 
sad  fate,  indeed,  for  a  man  of  such  generous  impulses  and 
noble  purpose,  a  hero  of  such  self-sacrifice  and  benevolent 
enterprise,  a  patriot  so  deeply  devoted  to  his  country  and 
the  welfare  of  the  people. 

A  similar  though  more  barbarous  fate  was  the  portion  of. 
his  associates,  Vincent  Oge  and  Jean  Baptiste  Chevanne. 
History  nowhere  records  anything  more  cruel  and  inhuman 
than  the  condemnation  passed  by  the  court  upon  these  men. 
The  stoutest,  the  hardest  heart  must  shudder  at  its  words. 
They  were  to  be  conducted,  according  to  Lacroix,  "by  the 
public  executioner  to  the  church  of  Cape  Francois,  and 
•there  bareheaded,  en  chemise,  with  a  rope  about  their  necks, 
upon  their  knees,  and  holding  in  their  hands  a  wax  candle 
of  two  pounds  weight,  to  declare  they  had  wickedly,  rashly, 
and  by  evil  instigation,  committed  the  crimes  of  which  they 
had  been  accused  and  convicted,  and  there  and  then  that  they 
repent  of  them,  and  ask  the  forgiveness  of  God,  of  the  king, 
and  the  violated  justice  of  the  realm;  that  they  should  then 
Be  conducted  to  La  Place  d'Armes  of  the  said  town,  and  in 
the  place  opposite  to  that  appropriated  to  the  execution  of 
white  men,  to  have  their  arms,  legs,  hips,  and  thighs  broken 
alive ;  that  they  should  be  placed  upon  a  wheel  with  their 
faces  toward  heaven,  and  there  remain  so  long  as  God  should 
preserve  their  lives.  After  their  death  their  heads  were 


54  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

to  be  severed  from  their  bodies  and  placed  upon  poles ;  that 
of  Oge  on  the  road  to  Dondon,  that  of  Chevanne  on  the  road 
to  Grande  Riviere,  and  the  property  of  both  was  to  be  con 
fiscated  to  the  king." 

It  is  said  that  Oge  lost  his  firmness  in  this  terrible  mo 
ment,  but  that  Chevanne  died,  as  he  had  lived,  the  same 
stern,  unyielding  foe  of  his  oppressors,  But  the  martyrdom 
of  these  heroes  of  the  first  insurrection  did  not  quench  the 
growing  determination  of  the  people  to  be  free.  Indeed,  it 
was  the  rallying-cry  of  the  after-struggle.  At  this  time  all 
things  in  France  and  in  the  island  conspired  to  hasten  the 
insurrection  which  had  been  espoused  by  Vincent  Oge 
before  his  execution.  The  story  of  the  barbarous  death  of 
Oge  created  iri  France  a  terrible  storm  of  popular  indigna 
tion  against  the  planters.  The  feeling  now  in  favor  of  the 
colored  people  became  intense  and  vehement.  And  the 
National  Assembly,  borne  along  upon  the  tide  of  popular 
enthusiasm;  passed  a  decree  giving  citizenship  to  all  colored 
persons  in  the  colonies  born  of  free  parents,  and,  also,  mak 
ing  them  eligible  to  seats  in  the  colonial  judicatures.  But 
when  the  news  of  the  passage  of  this  decree  reached  the 
island  it  filled  the  planters  with  ungovernable  anger.  All 
were  for  throwing  off  allegiance  to  the  mother  country  and 
hoisting  the  English  flag.  Their  fierce  anger  was  at  length 
allayed.  It  was  not  long,  however,  before  the  cry,  "  The 
blacks  have  risen  !  "  sent  a  thrill  to  the  hearts  of  the  plant 
ers  more  terrible  than  the  awful  tread  of  an  earthquake. 

It  was  on  the  night  of  the  twenty-second  day  of  August, 
1791,  that  the  second  Haitian  insurrection  broke  forth.  Its 
beginnings  were  of  comparatively  small  account,  but  its 
1.  /ogress  was  rapid  and  wide-spread,  so  that  in  a  short  time 
it  reached  "from  the  sea  to  the  mountains."  Destruction 
and  devastation  marked  its  course.  Neither  life  nor  prop- 


THE  WORLD'S  ANTI-SLA  VEE  Y  MO  VEMENT.    55 

erty  was  spared ;  both  were  destroyed.  The  insurgents  were 
determined  not  only  to  destroy  their  masters,  but  every 
thing  which  reminded  them  of  their  former  servile  condi 
tion.  They  offered  all  things  as  a  bloody  and  burning  sacri  i 
fice  to  freedom.  They  made  the  flames  that  wrapt  the  vast 
fields  of  cane  in  their  fiery  arms,  that  devoured  the  dwellings 
and  mills  of  flourishing  plantations  and  the  lowly  cabins, 
once  their  own  homes,  to  illuminate  the  path-way  of  liberty 
in  its  glorious  coming  to  the  bondmen  of  Haiti.  To  Buck- 
man,  Jean  Frangois,  Jeannot  and  Biassou  belongs  the  honor 
of  conducting  this  movement  through  its  first  stages.  They 
led  their  forces  against  vindictive  and  cruel  foes;  foes  that 
would  not  only  subjugate,  but  enslave  them;  under  whom 
they  had  already  felt  the  sharp  sting  of  the' lash,  and  suf 
fered  the  untold  agonies  of  slavery.  It  is  not  strange,  then, 
that  in  this  contest  cruelty  met  cruelty,  barbarity  barbarity, 
and  many  things  were  done  which  all  are  forced  to  lament 
and  deplore. 

In  the  mean  time  many  white  colonists,  despairing  of 
peace  and  prosperity,  had  left  the  island ;  some  coming  to 
the  United  States,  and  others  going  to  Great  Britain  and  to 
the  neighboring  Island  of  Jamaica,  Through  the  influence 
of  the  royalist  who  had  gone  from  France  to  Great  Britain 
and  the  colonists  who  had  gone  from  Haiti,  proposals  were 
made  to  the  British  government  to  take  possession  of  the 
island  and  make  it  a  British  colony.  These  proposals  were 
favorably  received,  and  accordingly  a  British  force  appeared 
in  the  island  on  the  20th  of  September,  1793.  Then  it  was 
that  there  was  to  be  seen  upon  the  field  of  conflict  four  bel 
ligerent  parties,  the  English,  the  French,  the  Spanish,  and 
the  blacks.  At  this  time,  too,  great  confusion  and  disor 
ganization  prevailed. 

Then  it  was  that  the  master  spirit  of  the  Haitian  Revolu- 


56  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

tion,  Toussaint  1'Ouverture,  made  his  appearance.  And  his 
coming  was  like  the  radiance  of  morning,  all  bright  and 
beautiful.  The  eyes  of  the  whole  world  were  upon  him. 
God  had  brought  him  forth,  "with  Atlantean  shoulders," 
strong  and  powerful,  to  bear  the  responsibilities  of  a 
momentous  emergency.  This  great  man,  than  whom  a 
greater  never  lived,  was  born  in  1743,  on  Count  de  Noes 
plantation,  a  short  distance  from  Cape  Francois.  The  son 
of  parents  purely  African,  he  was,  nevertheless,  even  in  his 
boyhood,  distinguished  for  his  gentleness  and  stability  of 
temper,  his  deep  reflection,  and  his  love  and  veneration  for 
religion.  These  peculiarities  marked  his  entire  life.  Indeed, 
it  was  these  qualities  of  character,  connected  with  his 
great  genius,  his  remarkable  patience,  Christian  moderation 
and  robust  constitution,  that  gave  him  such  power  of  endur 
ance,  which  made  him  the  man  for  the  hour ;  which  placed 
him  at  the  head  of  the  forces  fighting  for  freedom. 

In  every  relation  of  life  this  man  was  a  model  man.  As 
husband  and  father,  he  was  altogether  without  fault,  always 
exhibiting  towards  his  wife  the  tenderest  love,  and  towards 
his  children  the  most  affectionate  and  fatherly  solicitude ; 
while  as  a  friend  his  conduct  was  distinguished  by  the 
most  unwonted  generosity  and  magnanimity.  This  is  beauti 
fully  and  touchingly  illustrated  in  his  behavior  towards  his 
master  and  family  when  danger  threatened  them,  and  he 
imperilled  his  own  life  to  secure  their  succor.  As  lieutenant- 
governor  his  rigid  though  just  discipline,  his  well-adjusted 
and  judicious  plans,  his  magical  influence  and  power  over 
the  people,  soon  brought  to  the  island  peace  and  prosperity. 
But  the  character  of  this  extraordinary  man  shines  most 
brilliantly  and  beautifully  in  his  conduct  as  a  great  military 
leader  and  hero.  It  was  in  this  capacity  that  his  wonder 
ful  originality  and  independence,  his  ingenuity  and  skill, 


THE  WORLD'S  ANTI-SLAVER  Y  MOVEMENT.     57 

his  genius  and  power  found  ample  scope  for  their  display. 
Toussaint  1'Ouverture  was  the  most  extraordinary  man  of 
his  age,  though  he  lived  in  an  age  remarkable  for  its  extra 
ordinary  men.  A  slave  for  nearly  fifty  years,  he  stepped 
from  slavery  into  freedom,  and  at  once  showed  himself  an 
intellectual  and  moral  prodigy.  Superior  to  Napoleon  and 
Washington  as  a  great  military  leader,  he  was,  like  Wash 
ington,  inclined  to  the  arts  of  peace.  It  is  not  strange  that 
Napoleon,  while  he  studied  Toussaint  as  his  model  and 
patron,  feared  him  as  a  rival,  and  did  not  hesitate  to  make  use 
of  the  basest  treachery  -to  secure  his  overthrow  and  destruc 
tion.  He  knew  full  well  his  just  title  to  the  appellation  "  The 
Opener,"  and  read  in  his  great  native  ability  and  attain 
ments  the  brilliant  career  that  awaited  him. 

The  words  of  Toussaint  after  his  overthrow  were  full  of 
inspiration  and  truth  :  ''  In  overthrowing  me  you  have  over 
thrown  only  the  trunk  of  the  tree  of  Negro  liberty  in  Santo 
Domingo.  It  will  arise  again  from  the  roots,  because  they 
are  many,  and  have  struck  deep."  Indeed,  slavery  was  never 
re-established  in  that  island.  Christophe,  Dessalines  and 
dlerveaux  rose  in  arms  and  forty  thousand  Frenchmen  were 
made  an  atoning  sacrifice  for  the  temerity  of  Bonaparte. 

I  will  not  harrow  up  your  feelings  by  dwelling  upon  the 
sad  fate  of  the  great  Haitian  hero,  upon  his  cruel  separation 
from  his  family,  nor  his  death  in  a  "cold,  damp  and  gloomy 
dungeon,"  in  the  castle  of  Joux,  among  the  Jura  mountains. 
Nor  will  I,  I*  need  riot,  dwell  upon  the  success  and  the  happy 
-consequence  of  the  Haitian  revolution.  To  all  people  strug 
gling  for  freedom,  it  is  a  glorious  bow  of  promise,  spanning 
the  moral  heavens. 

Thus,  whenever,  wherever  liberty  has  made  a  stand  against 
oppression,  whether  with  the  arms  of  "truth  and  love,"  or 
with  the  sword  and  bayonet,  she  has  alwaj^s  won  the  most 
D 


58  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

brilliant,  splendid  triumphs.  And  in  these  triumphs  of  the 
past  we  read  the  sure  prophecy  of  "  the  good  time  coming'* 
to  the  American  anti-slavery  movement. 

This  movement  also  had  its  forerunners.  Upon  their  his 
tory  and  doings  I  will  not  tarry  to  say  a  single  word.  When 
the  time  came,  however,  for  the  movement  to  make  a  new  de 
velopment,  to  take  on  another  type,  to  make  a  higher  aim,  to 
assume  a  definite  and  positive  character,  and  to  receive  a  new 
impulse,  God,  as  in  time  past,  raised  up  a  man  who  has 
shown  himself  equal  to  the  arduous  undertaking.  That 
man  was  the'immortal  William  Lloyd  Garrison.  A  man  of 
obscure  parentage,  without  the  prestige  of  a  great  name  or 
the  magical  influence  of  wealth,  but  possessing  great  moral 
courage,  stability  of  character,  and  Christian  fortitude,  he 
came  forth  as  the  advocate  of  liberty,  declaring  :  "  I  am  in 
earnest ;  I  will  not  equivocate ;  I  will  not  excuse ;  I  will  not 
retreat  a  single  inch ;  and  I  will  be  heard  !"  He  and  his  asso 
ciates  announced  in  substance,  in  their  celebrated  anti-slavery 
declaration  of  1833,  that  all  men  are  created  free  and  equal  \ 
that  slavery  is  a  stupendous  wrong ;  that  it  is  an  outrage 
upon  humanity  and  a  sin  against  God;  that  no  man  can  by 
right  gain  property  in  the  body  and  soul  of  his  fellow,  and 
that  slavery  ought  to  be  immediately  and  unconditionally 
abolished. 

The  achievements  of  the  American  anti-slavery  movement 
since  that  time  have  been  such  as  to  impart  hope  and 
courage  to  every  heart.  Of  course,  I  40  not  refer  to  the 
achievements  of  any  separate  and  distinct  organization.  I 
refer  to  the  achievements  of  that  complicated  and  stupen 
dous  organization  composed  of  persons  from  all  parts  of  this 
country,  whose  aim  is  the  abolition  of  slavery  and  the 
enfranchisement  of  the  colored  American.  What,  then,  are 
some  of  its  accomplishments  ? 


THE  WOELD'S  ANTI-SLAVEE  Y  MO VEMENT.     59 

In  the  first  place,  it  has  brought  the  subject  of  slavery 
itself  distinctly  and  prominently  before  the  public  mind. 
Indeed,  in  every  nook  and  corner  of  American  society  this 
matter  now  presents  itself,  demanding,  and  in  many  instances 
receiving,  respectful  consideration.  There  is  no  gathering 
of  the  people,  whether  political  or  religious,  which  is  not 
now  forced  to  give  a  place  in  its  deliberations  to  this  subject. 
Like  the  air  we  breathe,  it  is  all-pervasive.  Through  this 
wide-spread  consideration  the  effects  of  slavery  upon  the 
slave,  the  slaveholder,  and  society  generally,  have  been  very 
thoroughly  demonstrated  ;  and  as  the  people  have  under 
stood  these  effects  they  have  loathed  and  hated  their  foul 
cause.  Thus  the  public  conscience  has  been  aroused,  and 
a  broad  and  deep  and  growing  interest  has  been  created  in 
behalf  of  the  slave. 

In  the  next  place,  it  has  vindicated,  beyond  decent  cavil 
even,  the  claim  of  the  slave  to  manhood  and  its  dignities. 
No  one  of  sense  and  decency  now  thinks  that  the  African 
slave  of  this  country  is  not  a  man.  No  sensible  slaveholder 
now  dares  to  deny  his  humanity.  Instead  of  this,  the  lead 
ing  slaveholders  now  claim  that  all  laboring  classes,  whether 
white  or  black,  ought  to  be  slaves,  no  longer  predicating 
their  claim  to  the  Negro  slave  on  the  ground  that  he  is 
wanting  in  humanity.  Possessing  intellect,  sensibility  and 
will,  judgment,  understanding  and  imagination,  sense,  con 
sciousness  and  fancy,  reason  and  conscience,  the  American 
bondman  is  a  man  capable  of  the  most  refined  culture  and 
the  noblest  endeavor.  And  the  anti-slaver}7  movement  has 
fully  attested  the  truthfulness  of  this  declaration. 

The  anti-slavery  movement  has  also  shown  the  real  condi 
tion  of  the  poor  non-slaveholding  whites  of  the  South  ;  that 
they  have  no  rights  which  are  to  be  respected  and  cared  for 
when  the  interests  of  slavery  are  to  be  looked  after  ;  that 


60  FBEEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

their  right  to  think  freely  and  to  give  free  utterance  to  their 
opinions  is  altogether  denied  them  ;  that  they  have  no  free 
voice,  no  untrammelled  utterance,  in  political  or  religious 
matters  ;  but  their  opinions  are  manufactured  for  them,  and 
they  must  receive  them  at  the  hands  of  their  self-styled  supe 
riors  ;  that  they  are  denied  all  educational  advantages,  and 
their  children  are  left  to  grow  up  in  ignorance,  and  spend 
their  lives  in  indolence  and  dissipation.  Nor  have  they  the 
means,  the  opportunity,  of  acquiring  wealth.  They  cannot 
with  facility  gain  a  moderate  competency.  Looked  at  from 
any  standpoint,  their  condition  is  truly  an  unfortunate  one. 
In  it  we  see  the  blighting  effects  of  slavery  upon  free  labor. 
Indeed,  free  labor  and  slavery  cannot  live  together.  This 
must  be  so  ;  for  let  the  masses  be  educated,  let  them  enjoy 
freedom  of  thought  and  freedom  of  speech,  and  slavery  could 
not  stand.  This  huge  image  of  error  and  wrong  would  soon 
soon  tremble  and  fall  to  the  ground.  May  God  hasten  the 
day  when  light  shall  burst  upon  the  minds  of  these  poor 
whites  who  now  sit  in  the  shadow  of  death,  and  they,  know 
ing  their  rights,  shall  assert  and  maintain  them  like  men  ; 
and  through  their  enfranchisement  light  and  liberty  may 
come  to  the  poor  bondman  !  Indeed,  the  poor  white  man  of 
the  South  and  the  slave  ought  to  be  linked  in  friendship 
stronger  than  iron  chains  ;  for  a  common  enemy  preys  upon 
their  freedom. 

In  like  manner  the  anti-slavery  movement  has  fastened 
the  attention  of  the  world  upon  the  impudent  and  daring 
encroachments  of  slavery  upon  the  rights  and  liberties  of 
the  people  of  the  North.  In  doing  this  the  deep  baseness  of 
the  Florida  war,  the  annexation  of  Texas,  the  enactment  of 
the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compro 
mise,  the  attempt  to  force  slavery  upon  the  people  of  Kan 
sas,  and  the  Dred-Scott  decision,  have  been  most  fully  and 


THE  WORLD 'S  ANTI-SLA  VEE  Y  MO  VEMENT.     61 

completely  developed,  while  the  nefarious  outrage  perpe 
trated  in  the  practical  abrogation  of  that  clause  of  the  Con 
stitution  which  guarantees  to  the  citizens  of  each  State  all 
the  rights  and  immunities  of  the  citizens  of  the  several 
States,  as  well  as  the  outrage  perpetrated  by  the  greedy 
assumption  of  well-nigh  all  the  patronage  of  the  National 
Government,  has  been  thoroughly  exposed.  This  has  led 
the  people  of  the  North  to  array  themselves  against  this 
common  pest  of  the  country.  And  now  we  have  a  North  as 
well  as  a  South. 

The  anti- slavery  movement  has  also  offered  a  most  trium 
phant  vindication  of  the  anti-slavery  character  of  the  Declar 
ation  of  Independence,  whose  broad  and  comprehensive 
definition  of  freedom  includes  every  human  being,  whether 
white  or  black,  whether  born  in  heathen  lands  or  in  the 
midst  of  civilization  and  Christianity.  Indeed,  the  Declara 
tion  is  no  glittering  generality,  no  beautiful  abstraction. 
Its  doctrines  of  freedom  are  solemn  verities.  It  has  also 
vindicated,  by  an  argument  incapable  of  refutation,  the  anti- 
slavery  character  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
and  has  met  and  refuted  the  foul  aspersion  of  the  Bible, 
that  it  sanctions  and  sanctifies  slavery.  And  now,  in  the 
name  of  the  Bible,  the  Constitution,  and  the  Declaration, 
we  demand  the  immediate  and  unconditional  abolition  of 
slavery. 

Another  important  and  splendid  achievement  of  this  move 
ment  is  the  establishment  of  its  own  literature — a  literature 
peculiar  and  distinct,  and  yet  distinguished  for  its  excel 
lences  and  beauties.  This  could  not  be  otherwise,  for  many 
of  the  most  eminent  scholars,  poets  and  philosophers  of  the 
country  are  its  contributors.  Our  anti-slavery  books,  full 
of  valuable  and  interesting  thoughts,  rendered  acceptable  by 
an  appropriate  and  graceful  style,  are  not  only  read  by  all 


62  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

classes,  in  every  section  of  this  country,  but  are  read  and 
admired  by  the  common  people,  and  the  critics  of  other 
lands.  These  books  are  our  constant  companions.  In 
society  and  solitude,  the  living  thoughts  they  contain  burn 
and  glow  in  our  hearts.  The  influence  of  our  anti-slavery 
literature  is  silent,  yet  potential,  well-nigh  omnipotent.  It 
is  true  that  one  good  book  is  more  powerful  than  a  thou 
sand  soldiers  clad  in  arms.  The  attack  of  an  army  is  for 
the  most  part  sudden;,  it  may  be  desperate,  but  the  influence 
of  a  book  is  deep,  wide-spread  and  permanent.  It  is  im 
perishable  and  ever  active.  What  a  wonderful,  matchless 
influence,  then,  our  anti-slavery  publications  are  exerting 
upon  the  public  mind  ;  through  their  stubborn  facts,  con 
vincing  the  judgment,  and  through  their  earnest  and  pathetic 
appeals  in  behalf  of  freedom,  charming  and  captivating  the 
heart. 

This  movement  also  has  its  living  orators.  These  orators 
possess  the  noblest  of  all  themes — a  theme  whose  simple 
announcement  touches  the  human  heart,  and  wakes  a  re 
sponse  deep  and  lasting.  It  is  a  theme,  too,  which  affords 
the  most  ample  field  for  the  display  of  the  stoutest  faculties 
of  thought  and  reason,  of  imagination  and  fancy.  Upon 
the  "  resistless  eloquence  wielded "  by  these  orators,  their 
incomparable  rhetoric,  and  its  admirable  effect,  I  need  not 
pronounce  a  panegyric.  The  beauty  and  power  of  their  pro 
ductions  must  be  admitted  by  all.  Indeed,  to  them  more 
than  any  other  class — to  Phillips  and  Sumner,  to  Parker  and 
Beecher,  to  Smith  and  Cheever,  to  Douglas  and  Seward,  to 
Remond  and  Burleigh — belong  the  honor  of  building  up  an 
aristocracy  of  American  eloquence,  whose  authority  and  sway 
are  extensive  and  influential.  In  its  authors  and  orators, 
this  movement  has  made  one  of  its  most  imposing  achieve 
ments. 


THE  WORLD  '£  ANTI-SL A  VEE  Y  MO  VEMENT.     63 

More  than  this,  the  anti-slavery  movement  has  brought  to 
the  colored  people  of  the  North  the  opportunities  of  develop 
ing  themselves  intellectually  and  morally.  It  has  unbarred 
and  thrown  open  to  them  the  doors  of  colleges,  academies,  law 
schools,  theological  seminaries  and  commercial  institutions, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  incomparable  district  school.  Of  these 
opportunities  they  have  very  generally  availed  themselves; 
and  now,  wherever  you  go,  whether  to  the  East  or  the  West, 
you  will  find  the  colored  people  comparatively  intelligent, 
industrious,  energetic  and  thrifty,  as  well  as  earnest  and 
determined  in  their  opposition  to  slavery.  Indeed,  they  have 
already  been  able  to  furnish  a  large  number  of  earnest,  labo 
rious  and  efficient  workers  to  this  cause ;  workers  of  whose 
endeavors  and  success  we  need  not  be  ashamed.  With  the 
opportunities  offered  for  their  intellectual  and  moral  devel 
opment  they  have  also  had  the  means  of  acquiring  wealth, 
which  they  have  not  failed  to  improve.  And  now  their  pecu 
niary  ability  is  not  of  insignificant  account.  In  the  State 
of  Ohio  alone  thirty  thousand  colored  persons  are  the  owners 
of  six  millions  of  dollars'  worth  of  property,  every  cent  of 
which  stands  pledged  to  the  support  of  the  cause  of  the  slave. 
Animated  by  the  same  spirit  of  liberty  that  nerved  their 
fathers,  who  fought  in  the  Revolutionary  war  and  war  of 
1812,  to  free  this  land  from  British  tyranny,  they  are  the 
inveterate  and  uncompromising  enemies  of  oppression,  and 
are  willing  to  sacrifice  all  that  they  have,  both  life  and  prop 
erty,  to  secure  its  overthrow.  But  they  have  more  than 
moral  and  pecuniary  strength.  In  some  of  the  States  of  this 
Union  all  of  their  colored  inhabitants,  and  in  others  a  very 
large  class  of  them,  enjoy  the  privileges  and  benefits  of  citi 
zens.  This  is  a  source  of  very  great  power.  For  next  to 
the  magical  dollar,  the  vote  is  that  instrumentality  by  which 
the  soul  of  an  American  is  led  captive  at  one's  will.  This 


64  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

influence,  too,  is  consecrated  and  pledged  to  the  slave.  No 
Democratic  politician ;  no  hollow-hearted  politician  of  any 
party  whatever;  no  man  who  is  not  a  devoted,  laborious, 
anti-slavery  man  can  ever  secure  our  vote.  Money  cannot 
buy  it.  Flattering  promises  of  self-aggrandizement  cannot 
induce  its  desecration;  for  it  is  a  sacred  thing,  and  shall 
be  used  as  Tthuriel's  spear,  to  stab  the  demon  of  slavery. 
To  have  brought  the  means  of  education  and  development 
to  such  a  people,  a  people  possessing  such  a  spirit,  is  cer 
tainly  one  of  the  most  desirable  and  valuable  achievements 
of  the  American  anti-slavery  movement. 

Another  achievement  of  the  American  anti-slavery  move 
ment  is  the  emancipation  of  forty  or  fifty  thousand  fugitive 
slaves,  who  stand  to-day  as  so  many  living,  glowing  refuta 
tions  of  the  brainless  charge  that  nothing  has,  as  yet,  been 
accomplished  Indeed,  this  movement  exhibits  great  moral 
muscle  and  strength,  shows  itself  amoral  giant,  when  despite 
the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  and  the  vigil  ant  patrol  of  the  South, 
it  sends  its  powerful  and  magical  influences  to  the  ever 
glades  of  Florida,  the  cane-fields  of  Louisiana,  and  the  rice 
swamps  of  South  Carolina,  and  leads  out  thence  the  peeled 
and  broken  slave.  Nor  does  this  movement  leave  the  flee 
ing  bondman  without  protection  and  care  in  his  new  home 
in  the  North.  Wherever  he  goes,  now,  whether  in  our  large 
cities  or  into  our  rural  districts,  he  finds  friends  either  to 
welcome  or  give  him  help  for  his  further  journey  to  the  freer 
land  of  Queen  Victoria. 

But  the  crowning  achievement  of  the  anti-slavery  move 
ment  of  this 'country  is  the  establishment,  full  and  complete, 
of  the  fact  that  its  great  aim  and  mission  is  not  merely  the 
liberation  of  four  millions  of  American  slaves,  and  the 
enfranchisement  of  six  hundred  thousand  half  freemen,  but 
the  preservation  of  the  American  Government,  the  preser- 


THE  WORLD'S  ANTI-SLAVER  Y  MO VEMENT.    65 

vation  of  American  liberty  itself.  It  has  been  discovered, 
at  last,  that  slavery  is  no  respecter  of  persons,  that  in  its  far- 
reaching  and  broad  sweep  it  strikes  down  alike  the  freedom 
of  the  black  man  and  the  freedom  of  the  white  one.  This 
movement  can  no  longer  be  regarded  as  a  sectional  one.  It 
is  a  great  national  one.  It  is  not  confined  in  its  benevo 
lent,  its  charitable  offices,  to  any  particular  class ;  its  broad 
philanthropy  knows  no  complexional  bounds.  It  cares  for 
the  freedom,  the  rights  of  us  all.  Some  may  call  this  repre 
sentation  a  fancy  sketch;  rhetorical  gammon.  But  it  must 
be  evident  to  every  one  conversant  with  American  affairs  that 
we  are  now  realizing  in  our  national  experience  the  impor 
tant  and  solemn  truth  of  history,  that  the  enslavement  and 
degradation  of  one  portion  of  the  population  fastens  galling, 
festering  chains  upon  the  limbs  of  the  other.  For  a  time 
these  chains  may  be  invisible ;  yet  they  are  iron-linked  and 
strong;  and  the  slave,  power,  becoming  strong-handed  and 
defiant,  will  make  them  felt.  This  identification  of  the  inter 
ests  of  the  white  and  colored  people  of  the  country,  this 
peculiarly  national  feature  of  the  anti-slavery  movement  is 
one  of  its  most  cheering,  hope-inspiring  and  hope-supporting 
characteristics.  This  fact  is  encouraging  because  the  white 
Americans  cannot  stand  as  idle  spectators  to  the  struggle,, 
but  must  unite  with  us  in  battling  against  this  fell  enemy  if 
they  themselves  would  save  their  own  freedom.  Indeed,, 
the  unchivalrous  though  natural  behavior  of  the  slave  oli 
garchy  has  already  aroused  the  people  of  the  North  to  a 
consciousness  of  this  burning  truth.  And  the  deep,  solemn 
voice  of  the  people  as  it  comes  thundering  up  from  the  hills 
of  New  England  and  from  the  prairies  of  the  West  is  pro 
nouncing  their  heroic  determination  to  meet  and  overthrow 
this  power.  Their  cry  is  :  "The  slave  oligarchy  must  die> 
the  slave  oligarchy  shall  die !" 


66  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

These  are  some  of  the  achievements  of  the  anti-slavery 
movements  of  our  own  country.  From,  its  very  beginning 
it  has  gone  steadily  on  in  its  career  of  triumph.  No  power 
'has  been  able  to  withstand  it.  In  its  irresistible  march  it  has 
split  to  pieces  all  the  great  ecclesiastical  and  political  organ 
izations  of  the  country.  It  has  overthrown,  utterly  over 
thrown,  the  old  Whig  party,  and  written  across  the  Demo 
cratic  party,  the  other  stronger  ally  of  slavery,  in  burning 
characters  :  "Thy  days  are  numbered."  It  has  changed  the 
National  Congress  and  the  State  legislatures  into  anti-slavery 
conventions,  and  has  shipwrecked  the  fortunes  of  many  .dis 
tinguished  men,  who  had  fastened  their  political  destinies 
to  a  blind  though  ardent  defence  of  slavery.  These  achieve 
ments  of  our  American  movement  augur  and  insure  its  ulti 
mate  success,  and  the  triumphs  of  the  world's  great  anti-slav 
ery  movement,  to  which  allusion  has  been  made,  predict  the 
^ure  coming  of  the  millennium  of  liberty. 

Let  us,  then,  disfranchised  Americans,  take  new  courage ; 
for  our  cause  and  the  cause  of  the  slave  shall  triumph  glo 
riously.  With  hearts  full  of  hope,  and  a  determination  to 
battle  for  the  right  against  the  wrong,  let  us  adopt  the  beau 
tiful  sentiment  of  the  poet : 

"  God  speed  the  year  of  Jubilee, 

The  wide  world  o'er ! 
When,  from  their  galling  chains  set  free, 
The  oppressed  shall  vilely  bend  the  knee 
And  wear  the  yoke  of  tyranny, 

Like  brutes,  no  more. 
THAT  YEAR  WILL  COME,  and  freedom's  reign 
To  man  his  plundered  rights  again 

Kestore. 

God  speed  the  day  when  human  blood 

Shall  cease  to  flow ! 
In  every  clime  be  understood 
The  claims  of  human  brotherhood, 


THE  WO  ELD 'S  ANT1-SLA  VEE  Y  MO  VEMENT.     67 

And  each  return  for  evil,  good — 

Not  blow  for  blow. 

THAT  DAY  WILL  COME,  all  feuds  to  end, 
And  change  into  a  faithful  friend 

Each  foe. 

God  speed  the  hour,  the  glorious  hour, 

When  none  on  earth 
Shall  exercise  a  lordly  power, 
Nor  in  a  tyrant's  presence  cower, 
But  all  to  manhood's  stature  tower, 

By  equal  birth ! 

That  hour  mil  come,  to  each,  to  all, 
And  from  his  prison-house  the  thrall 

Go  forth. 

Until  that  year,  day,  hour  arrive, 
With  head  and  heart  and  hand  I'll  strive 
To  break  the  rod  and  rend  the  gyve — 
The  spoiler  of  Ms  prey  deprive  ; 

So  witness,  Heaven ! 
And  never  from  my  chosen  post, 
Whate'er  the  peril  or  the  cost, 

Be  driven." 


DANIEL  Q'COMELL. 


THE  GREAT  AGITATORS  YOUNG  LIFE-HIS  POWER 
AS  A  STATESMAN-HIS  EFFORTS  AS  AN  ABOLI 
TIONIST—THE  EFFECT  OF  HIS  LIFE  ON  THE 
TIMES  IN  WHICH  HE  LIVED.* 


I  should  not  describe  to  you  my  feelings  if  I  did  not  at 
once  say  that  I  feel  specially  honored  by  the  invitation 
which  brings  me  before  you  on  this  occasion,  and  as  I  enter 
upon  the  duty  which  the  acceptance  of  this  invitation  im 
poses,  I  realize  most  keenly  my  inability  to  meet  your 
expectation  by  treating  with  fullness  of  learning  and  power 
the  subject  upon  which  I  am  to  speak. 

Masters  of  the  pen,  orators,  indeed,  of  this  and  other 
countries  have  made  Daniel  O'Connell,  his  peculiarities,  his 
virtues,  his  achievements,  the  subject  of  their  discourse  and 
their  address.  From  this  very  platform  America's  most 
elegant,  captivating  and  eloquent  orator  has  dwelt  with  his 
own  peculiar  power,  in  his  most  happy  mood,  upon  this 
theme. 

Why  now  should  I,  after  so  much  has  been  written,  so 
much  said,  so  beautifully  and  so  eloquently,  with  so  much 
truth  and  power,  be  asked  to  offer  a  humble  word  in  eulogy 

*  A  lecture  delivered  in  Lincoln  Hall,  Washington,  T>.  C..  December  28, 
1874. 


DANIEL  O'CONNELL.  69 

and  commendation  of  Ireland's  greatest  son?  Is  it  because 
he  did  peculiar  work  in  behalf  of  the  class,  citizens  of  our 
own  country,  with  whom  I  am  peculiarly  identified  ?  Was  he 
an  abolitionist,, demanding  at  Dublin  and  at  London,  among 
the  Irish  and  the  English,  sending  his  voice,  like  that  of  the 
storm,  till  mankind  heard  it,  that  slavery,  the  chattelizing  of 
the  American  Negro,  be  unconditionally  and  immediately 
abolished  ?  Was  he  a  reformer  of  such  large  comprehen 
sion,  humanity,  sense  of  justice  and  right,  wisdom  and 
sagacity,  that  he  limited  in  his  conceptions  human  freedom 
and  legal  rights  by  no  boundaries  of  color,  nationality  or 
caste?  Or  has  our  country  reached  that  hour  when  the 
name  of  this  great  and  good  man,  statesman  and  patriot, 
should  be  pronounced  and  dwelt  upon  to  inspirit,  animate 
and  support  those  newly  emancipated,  admitted  and  wel 
comed  to  the  body-politic  with  the  ballot  in  their  hands,  as 
well  as  those  native  and  naturalized,  once  citizens  of  Erin, 
now  citizens  and  voters  of  our  country,  who  are  resolved  to 
make  this  country,  in  its  law,  its  religion,  and  its  politics, 
pure,  exalted,  enduring  ? 

As  to  these  questions  the  sequel  will  make  my  answer. 
Although  this  answer  is  anticipated,  if  not  wholly,  partly 
by  your  knowledge  of  the  past  history  and  utterances  of  the 
great  agitator. 

Born  in  1775,  Daniel  O'Connell  breathed  from  his  birth  an 
atmosphere  of  revolution.  Change,  readjustment,  progress, 
even  through  blood,  was  seen  and  felt  in  every  direction,  in 
the  midst  of  the  leading  nations  of  the  earth.  Before  he 
had  completed  the  first  year  of  his  age  America  made  her 
memorable  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  thus  a  nation 
so  far  discovering  vigor,  purpose,  energy,  enterprise,  devo 
tion  and  valor,  has  gone  forward,  advancing  in  years  and 
distinguishing  itself  in  military,  commercial,  scientific, 


70  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

literary,  political  and  moral  achievements.  It  is  not  in  the 
power  of  man 'to  estimate  the  influence  of  our  own  Declara 
tion  and  our  struggle  for  independence  upon  the  youthful 
O'Connell.  This  we  know,  that  such  a  declaration  was  never 
made  by  a  nation  of  any  lineage  or  tongue  prior  to  the  Fourth 
of  July,  1776,  and  the  world  has  produced  no  single  indi 
vidual  who  has  discovered  a  larger  and  more  practical 
knowledge  of  that  declaration  than  this  great  man.  Nor  is 
it  possible  for  us  to  estimate  the  influence  of  other  reform 
movements  among  other  nations  preceding  and  reaching  to 
and  beyond  the  period  of  his  birth  and  youth.  Born  at  this 
particular  juncture  in  the  affairs  of  the  world,  with  influ 
ences  of  the  character  indicated  brought  to  bear  upon  him 
from  near  and  far,  with  native  endowments  peculiar  to  the 
genuine  Irishman  :  warmth  of  soul,  vigor  of  intellect  ardor 
and  susceptibility  of  temperament,  sternness  and  persistency 
of  impulse,  carrying  for  the  time  being  the  mind  and  will ; 
with  affections  tender,  sympathy  quick  and  abundant,  it 
was  natural — indeed  it  would  have  been  contrary  to  all 
mental  law  had  it  been  otherwise — that  O'Connell  should 
be  in  his  manhood  the  bra^e,  persistent  leader  of  his  race. 
But  in  this  connection  we  are  not  to  forget  that  he  sprang 
from  a  people  who  have  given  the  world  more  great  men  in 
proportion  to  their  numbers  than  any  nation  on  the  face  of 
the  earth.  And  many  of  these  eminent  men  are  peculiarly 
distinguished  for  the  possession  and  display  of  those  quali 
ties  of  character  which  make  the  greatest  men  of  the  world. 
Edmund  Burke,  the  statesman  of  Beaconsfield,  "whose  last 
thoughts,  last  wishes,  like  his  first,  were  with  his  native 
land,"  stands  as  author,  orator  and  statesman,  as  original 
thinker  in  the  world's  estimation,  pre-eminent  among  the 
great  men  of  his  day.  Richard  Brinsley  Sheridan,  in  deliv 
ery  and  effectiveness  of  address,  in  his  day  second  to  no 


DANIEL  O'CONNELL.  71 

man  in  the  British  Parliament;  Henry  Grattan,  the  brightest 
ornament  of  the  Home  Parliament,  who  was  present  when, 
the  constitutional  charter  of  1782  restored  Ireland  to  the 
rank  and  dignity  of  a  free  nation;  who  was  also  present 
when  the  Legislative  Union  was  formed  destroying  her  inde 
pendence;  Plunkett,  Grattan's  associate  and  friend  in  the 
Irish  and  Imperial  Parliaments — with  Grattan  in  1782,  With 
him  in  1800,  were  in  their  endowments,  achievements,  their 
entire  life,  the  mirror  of  those  elements  of  character  which 
mark  real  greatness. 

It  will  be  recollected  that  it  was  Plunkett  who,  in  1782, 
pleading  for  the  life  and  independence  of  Ireland  and  her 
Parliament,  in  addressing  his  associates  used  the  memorable 
words:  "Yourselves  you  may  extinguish,  but  Parliament 
you  cannot  extinguish.  It  is  enthroned  in  the  hearts  of  the 
people;  it  is  enshrined  in  the  sanctuary  of  the  constitution;, 
it  is  as  immortal  as  the  island  that  protects  it.  As  well 
might  the  frantic  suicide  imagine  that  the  act  which  destroys 
his  miserable  body  should  also  extinguish  his  eternal  soul. 
Again,  therefore,  I  warn  you.  Do  not  lay  your  hands  on 
the  constitution;  it  is  above  your  powers  !" 

Here  other  names  which  illustrate  and  adorn  Irish  history 
crowd  upon  my  memory :  Curran,  Shiel,  Phillips,  Emmet,. 
Moore,  Doyle,  McHale  and  others  of  like  character  and 
influence.  But  upon  these  I  may  not  dwell.  The  struggles 
through  which  the  Irish  people  have  been  led  to  pass,  as  well 
as  the  peculiar  elements  of  their  rational  life,  have  tended 
to  produce  in  abundance,  and  with  marked  traits  of  charac 
ter,  leading  and  eminent  men.  National,  like  individual 
struggles,  if  not  indispensable  to,  tend  to  the  production  of 
power  and  greatness  in  man  and  nations. 

I  neither  sympathize  with  those  who  take  simply  the  poetic 
view  of  Ireland,  representing  her  as  a  "  mountain  nymph, 


72  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

with  flowing  garments,  wavy  ringlets,  glowing  countenance, 
enrapt  eye  and  Venus-like  fingers,  trilling  the  strings  of  a 
harp,"  nor  with  those  who,  taking  the  prosaic  view  simply, 
liken  her  to  a  "  mother  seated  on  the  mud  floor  of  a  log  cabinj 
clad  in  rags,  with  disheveled  hair,  piuched  features,  eyes  too 
hot  and  dry  for  tears,  and  skinny  fingers,  dividing  a  rotten 
potato  among  a  brood  of  famishing  children."  Both  views 
are  too  extreme.  To  me  neither  seems  truthful.  The  first, 
certainly,  seems  unlike  humanity.  The  latter  represents  a 
-condition  of  want  and  degradation  which  not  even  the  op 
pressed  and  outraged  children  of  Ireland,  as  a  nation,  have 
reached.  I  prefer  to  regard  Ireland  as  a  nation  of  valiant 
sons  and  daughters,  struggling  with  the  hard  things  of  life, 
to  be  sure;  deserving,  as  they  are  entitled  to,  better  things 
by  far,  but  made  of  such  excellent  material,  and  possessed 
and  influenced  by  such  sterling  purpose  as  that  they  produce 
in  the  throes  of  struggle,  not  a  few,  but  a  multitude  of  great 
and  influential  men.  Such  nation  has  given  the  world  the 
immortal  O'Connell. 

Educated,  as  to  academical  study,  at  Saint  Omers,  in 
France  ;  as  to  his  profession,  the  law,  in  England,  at  London, 
and  in  the  Middle  Temple ;  seeing  the  men  and  feeling  the 
influence  of  other  lands  than  his  own  ;  led  as  he  was,  to  cul 
tivate  thought,  sobriety  and  purpose  of  life,  he  learned  neither 
to  despise  nor  forget,  though  oppressed  and  lowly,  the  land 
and  people  of  his  birth  and  with  whom  he  was  identified  in 
blood,  achievement  and  destiny. 

His  first  tutor  was  an  Irish  priest,  from  whom  he  learned 
early  lessons,  quickening  to  conscience,  arousing  patriotic 
•devotion,  and  fixing  the  ardor,  the  purpose,  the  impulses 
even  of  his  soul  on  the  side  of  personal  purity,  fidelity  arid 
•duty. 

It  is  reported  of  this  tutor  that  he  was  "  a  Christian  in  the 


DANIEL  0' CONN  ELL.  73 

truly  evangelical  meaning  of  the  word,  since  his  faith  in  Christ 
Jesus  brought  him  but  sneers  and  persecution;  a  scholar, 
whose  views  were  all  impregnated  with  the  salt  of  sound  the 
ology  and  whose  manner  of  instruction  was  often  tinctured 
with  the  solemn  gloom  of  the  cloister.  Such  was  the  first 
priest  with  whom  the  future  Emancipator  became  acquainted, 
and  it  would  be  idle  to  deny  that  this  good  man's  character 
had  deeply  impressed  him  with  that  high  admiration, "amount 
ing  almost  to  reverence,  ever  manifested  towards  the  clergy, 
and  that  lively  sense  of  the  necessity  of  a  Christian  life,  the 
practice  of  which  is  one  of  the  most  glorious  traits  in  his 
character." 

At  Saint  Omars  two  classes  of  students  ware  educated  : 
the  sons  of  Irish  emigrants,  long  resident  of  France,  and  the 
sons  of  Irish  parents,  still  residents^of  their  native  land,  driven 
thence  by  the  penal  code  to  seek  abroad  learning,  knowledge, 
mental  discipline,  indispensable  tojiigh  moral  endeavor  and 
triumph. 

Speaking  of  the  students  of  Saint  Omers,  the  author  of 
"O'Connell  and  His  Friends"  uses  these  beautiful  words; 
"  -it  must  have  been  a  glorious  sight  to  behold  the  amity 
which  subsisted  between  these  two  branches  of  the  old  Mile 
sian  stock — the  one  flourishing  in  a  free,  foreign  soil,  the  other 
preferring  to  stand  on  Irish  ground  in  defiance  of  every 
storm,  still  aspiring  under  the  multitude  of  its  chains." 

To  the  latter  class,  as  we  know  full  well,  O'Connell  belonged ; 
and  aspiring,  though  under  chains,  he  gave  evidence  of  the 
possession  of  that  faith  in  himself  and  in  the  Irish  people 
which  made  him  in  after  years  their  liberator,  and  them  his 
wilhpg,  confiding,  ardent  and  admiring  constituency.  Re 
turning  from  England,  O'Connell  was  admitted  to  the  Irish 
bar,  at  Dublin,  in  1798. 

"  The  Irish  bar,"  says  McGee,  "  was  still  in  the  glory  of  its 
E 


74  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

independence ;  there  was  buoyancy  in  the  national  hearf,  and 
a  generous  emulation  ran  through  the  Senate,  the  bar  and 
the  press.  The  voice  of  Curran  was  heard  in  the  Four  Courts, 
drying  the  tears  his  pathos  had  caused.  *  *  The  silver 

tones  and  gorgeous  figures  of  Bushe  were  there  in  meridian 
brilliancy,  *  charming  a  verdict  by  the  silent  witchery  of  his 
manner.'  The  morose  yet  unfathomable  mind  of  Saurin, 
rich  alike  in  logic  and  learning,  made  another  giant  figure 
in  that  group  of  colossal  jurists;  while  pressing  hard  after 
them  in  the  career  of  fame,  came  a  younger  and  scarcely  less 
noble  race:  Holmes,  Thomas  Addis  Emmet  and  Louis  Perrin. 
Such  was  the  school  to  which  the  pupil  of  Saint  Omers  came, 
already  rich  in  learning,  skilled  in  elocution  and  subtle  in 
debate.  Here  his  first  Irish  lessons  were  received,  and 
assuredly  he  has  done  no  discredit  to  his  instructors." 

Early  in  his  professional  life,  before  he  gained  solid  foot 
ing,  while  yet  in  his  twenty-third  year,  he  witnessed  the  defeat 
of  the  projected  revolution  of  the  "  United  Irishmen."  Here 
he  was  taught,  as  some  one  has  said,  "  another  painful  lesson 
in  the  science  of  reform."  Quickly  thereafter  he  witnessed 
with  sorrowing  heart  what  shall  prove,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  but 
the  seeming  death  and  funeral  of  Irish  independence.  The 
actors,  the  scenes,  the  horrors  of  1798  and  1800  made  such 
an  impression  upon  his  tender  but  vigorous  and  manly  soul, 
that  he  "vowed  before  God  to  devote  his  energies  to  his 
country  and  its  altars,  and  to  live  but  for  the  emancipation 
of  both."  As  I  dwell  upon  this  consecration  of  O'Connell  to 
the  freedom  of  his  country  and  countrymen,  I  call  to  mind 
but  a  single  individual  consecration  of  grander  character, 
more  excellent  and  beautiful.  I  refer  to  the  consecration  of 
the  noble,  self-sacrificing  and  heroic  American  who,  forget 
ting  the  odds  against  him,  the  contempt,  the  ridicule,  the 
social  ostracism,  the  baptism  of  pain  and  suffering  which 


DANIEL  O'CONNELL.  75 

awaited  and  which  would  pour  like  a  flood  upon  him,  became 
the  champion  of  the  Negro's  emancipation  and  enfranchise 
ment,  declaring:  "I  am  in  earnest;  I  will  not  equivocate ; 
I  will  not  excuse ;  I  will  not  retreat  a  single  inch,  and  I  will 
be  heard  ! " 

William  Lloyd  Garrison  still  lives.  He  rejoices  in  the 
triumph  of  that  cause  to  which  he  dedicated  the  strength  of 
his  manhood  and  the  wisdom  of  his  age.  It  would  have  been 
well,  as  it  seems  to  me,  could  Daniel  O'Connell  have  witnessed 
the  restoration  of  Irish  independence,  the  re-establishment  of 
her  Home  Parliament,  as  well  as  Catholic  emancipation — the 
freedom  of  the  national  conscience.  But  hail  to  these  sous 
of  truth  and  freedom,  whose  bloodless  wtapons,  wielded  by 
strong  hands,  sustained  by  stout  hearts,  made  powerful 
omnipotent  through  God  and  the  right,  brought  liberty  and 
happiness  to  millions,  sorely,  bitterly  oppressed. 

A  wise  and  just  analysis  will  discover  in  the  character  of 
O'Connell  those  qualities  which  shine  in  leadership;  which 
make  greatness  possible.  The  first  of  these  is  essential  and 
positive  individuality.  Every  truly  great  man  who  becomes 
and  does  that  which  perpetuates  his  name  as  the  friend  of  the 
people,  the  conservator  of  virtue  and  the  general  good,  is 
himself.  I  speak  not  of  the  first  class  of  great  men  ;  not  of 
those  who  build  up  the  foundations  of  others ;  whose  advo 
cacy  of  principles  or  measures  is  by  authority ;  but  of  those 
who  remove  rubbish,  lay  solid  and  enduring  foundations,  and 
rear  thereupon  superstructures  of  utility,  grace,  beauty  and 
grandeur;  who  themselves  create  precedents  and  perpetuate 
their  authority.  Such  individuality,  such  essence  of  self 
hood,  O'Connell  possessed  ;  and  the^  characteristics  of  his 
nationality  no  more  distinguished  him  than  his  individual 
ism.  He  was  an  Irishman,  but  he  was  more  ;  he  was  Daniel 
O'Connell.  He  did  not  fail  to  assert,  to  render  positive  tie 


76  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

personality  of  which  I  speak,  as  his1  efforts  in  the  forum,  on 
the  hustings,  and  in  Parliament,  abundantly  attest.  Convic 
tion,  something  other  and  more  than  the  intellectual  recogni 
tion,  acceptance  even,  of  truth  and  obligation,  the  sense  of 
sincerity,  honesty,  faith  and  duty  burning  in  his  soul,  firing 
his  imagination,  impelling  and  controlling  his  will,  is  an 
element  entering  largely  into  that  rare  combination  of  quali 
ties  composing  the  very  being  and  distinguishing  the  life  and 
conduct  of  this  great  man. 

Addressing  his  constituents  at  Ennis,  refusing  to  take  the 
oath  of  supremacy  at  the  bar  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
advancing  popular  reform  by  tongue,  pen,  public  and  private 
influence,  he  impressed  and  moved  every  one — the  people, 
law-givers,  officials,  the  king  even — by  the  manifestation  of 
the  intensity,  the  ardor,  the  enthusiasm  of  his  conviction.  A 
learned  doctor  of  theology  once  said:  "My  bones  are  on  fire 
of  the  gospel;  and  if  I  preach  not,  I  shall  die."  This 
language  described  the  feeling,  the  mental  condition,  which  I 
find  in  the  moral  attitude  of  O'Connell. 

If  I  name  courage,  moral  and  physical,  as  another  of  the 
constituent  elements  of  O'ConnelPs  character,  I  refer  to  that 
quality  which,  to  my  mind,  is  the  most  brilliant  and  beauti 
ful,  and  the  one  of  which  his  life  is  the  most  fully  and  radi 
antly  instinct.  He  possessed  the  highest  type  of  moral 
courage,  the  purpose  and  power  to  do  that  which  seemed  in 
him,  in  spite  of  the  prepossession  and  customs  of  society,  right 
and  proper.  Living  at  a  time  when,  and  among  a  people 
by  whom  matters  of  honor  were  settled  by  duel ;  when  he 
who  did  not  accept  this  mode  of  adjusting  personal  difficul 
ties  was  adjudged  a  coward,  though  physically  brave,  as 
demonstrated  in  his  youth  and  subsequently  in  his  mature 
life,  after  he  had  fought  one  duel  successfully,  he  gave  to  his 
countrymen  and  mankind  a  new  and  better  lesson  on  this 


DANIEL  O'CONNELL.  77 

subject.  He  taught  his  brave  and  fiery  nation,  acquainted 
with  war  and  familiar  with  bloodshed,  that  "no  political 
change  is  worth  the  shedding  of  one  drop  of  human  blood ;" 
that  "he  who  commits  a  crime  gives  strength  to  the  enemy; 
that  nothing  can  be  politically  right  which  is  morally  wrong." 
These  aphorisms  of  his  moral  code,  their  utterance  and  vin 
dication,  not  only  demonstrate  the  adoption  and  cultivation 
of  a  wise  pacific  policy  as  to  individuals  and  nations,  but  the 
possession  of  a  moral  courage,  Christian  heroism,  of  surpass 
ing  beauty. 

The  personal  courage  of  O'Connell,  not  less  than  his  love 
of  peace,  is  fully  and  satisfactorily  sustained  by  the  facts  of 
his  history.  His  vow,  however,  against  duelling,  made  "  in  a 
state  of  society  and  in  scenes  of  such  danger  "  as  surrounded 
the  English  and  Irish  politicians  of  his  time,  required  the 
moral  courage  indicated,  as  well  as  that  decision  and  energy 
which  are  its  natural  and  inevitable  fruit. 

Hia  determination  and  rigor  of  character,  prompt  and 
ready  apprehension  of  duty,  individual  and  national,  are 
worthy  of  special  comment.  His  own  duty  made  clear,  either 
by  reflection  or  intuition,  was  pursued  and  performed  with  a 
will  and  power  as  irresistible  as  the  truth. 

These  qualities,  not  less  than  his  general  strength  and 
power  of  character,  were  especially  marked  in  great  emer 
gencies.  Then  he  was  borne,  but  beautifully  sustained  even 
above  his  usual  power,  great  as  this  always  was,  when  he 
made  display  of  genius  and  vigor  of  mind,  splendid  and 
powerful  in  the  highest  sense.  The  first  political  speech  of 
O'Connell  is  said  to  have  been  made  against  the  legislative 
union  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland.  On  this  occasion  his 
whole  soul  was  moved,  and  his  power  of  argument,  declama 
tion  and  invective  were  stirred  indeed.  He  portrayed  this 
final  degradation  of  Ireland  by  England  with  a  master'sY>ower, 


78  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

and  it  is  perhaps  true  that  no  speech  of  his  in  after  years 
surpassed  the  one  delivered  then  before  the  congregated  thou 
sands  of  Dublin.  At  this  time,  and  in  this  effort,  he  gave 
his  countrymen  proof  of  the  power  of  the  youthful  advocate 
and  defender  of  Irish  nationality ;  the  world,  proof  of  what 
he  was  capable  when  aroused  and  tested. 

Another  trait  of  character  peculiarly  distinguishing  O'Con- 
nell,  is  the  breadth  of  his  humanity.  He  was  a  patriot ;  he 
loved  deeply  his  country  and  his  race.  But  his  patriotism 
had  no  streak  of  selfishness  in  it.  Its  soul  seemed  that  of 
benevolence;  comprehending  every  child  of  Ireland.  It  did 
not  forget  nor  neglect  any  son  of  mankind — enslaved  or 
oppressed,  on  island  or  continent,  whether  of  European,  Asi 
atic  or  African  extraction. 

Truthfully  and  well  has  it  been  said  :  "  Were  those  who 
have  been  benefited  by  his  labors  to  assemble  in  congress,  at 
the  call  of  gratitude,  an  assembly  would  be  formed  without 
a  parallel  in  all  past  history.  The  Asiatic  of  the  Indian 
peninsula  would  leave  his  rice  crops  by  the  sacred  Ganges ; 
Africa  would  send  forth  her  dusky  deputies ;  the  West 
Indies  their  emancipated  dark  men  ;  Canada  her  grateful 
reformers,  and  Europe  the  noblest  of  her  free  and  of  her  fallen 
races."  And  I  may  add  to  this  list  of  grateful  and  worthy 
representatives  assembling  in  the  grandest  international 
gathering  the  world  ever  saw,  to  honor  this  benefactor  of  so 
many  and  diversified  peoples  and  classes,  deputies  of  the  dark- 
hued  sons  of  America,  whose  "immediate  and  unconditional 
freedom"  he  demanded  in  fit  and  powerful  words.  His 
broad  humanity,  his  far-reaching  and  comprehensive  benevo 
lence,  his  wise  and  deep  sense  of  duty  to  the  race,  make  us 
all  his  debtors.  His  individuality,  conviction,  moral  courage, 
decision  of  character  and  comprehensive  humanity  constitute 
the  bottom  elements  of  O'Conuell's  moral  nature.  Such 


DANIEL  O'CONNELL.  79 

qualities  were  essential  to  his  moral  constitution,  course  of 
life  and  success. 

Were  I  to  dwell  upon  the  intellectual  qualities,  the  powers 
and  peculiarities  of  O'Connell,  I  should  speak  of  his  reason, 
massive  but  acute,  active  and  reliable,  affirming  moral  truth 
in  Jhe  words  of  wisdom  itself,  with  the  authority  of  inspira 
tion  ;  his  conscience,  quick  and  responsive,  accepting  and 
enforcing  the  affirmations  of  the  reason  with  resistless  power  ; 
his  understanding,  capable  of  the  largest  endeavor,  the  most 
unflagging  and  persistent  effort,  as  well  as  the  broadest,  the 
most  varied  and  exalted  achievement;  his  logical  acumen, 
as  sharp  and  vigorous  in  the  search  for  knowledge  and  truth 
as  stern  and  positive  in  indicating  and  sustaining  them ;  his 
invective,  as  keen  as  a  blade ;  his  sarcasm,  scorching  and 
burning  as  a  fire ;  his  imagination,  as  lively  and  radiant  as 
the  light ;  his  sensibility,  as  tender  as  the  heart  of  the  Singer 
of  Israel.  With  such  powers  of  intellect,  an  industry  that 
knew  no  weariness,  and  a  physical  endurance  as  lasting  as  his 
mental  activity,  O'Connell  gained  the  largest  and  most  varied 
learning,  as  he  wielded  the  most  telling  and  lasting  influence. 
An  American,  having  seen  and  heard  him  on  more  than  one 
occasion,  bears  this  testimony  with  regard  to  him : 

"  He  possessed  a  mind  of  uncommon  native  vigor,  trained 
by  a  complete  education,  and  enlarged  with  a  knowledge  of 
men  and  things  varied  and  ample.  The  versatility  of  his 
genius,  his  extensive  information,  and  his  capacity  to  adapt 
himself  to  the  matter  under  discussion,  or  the  audience  before 
him,  were  surprising.  I  have  heard  him  exhaust  topics  that 
required  for  their  elucidation  an  intimate  acquaintance  with 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  with  the  condition  of 
the  barbarous  tribes  in  the  interior  of  Africa,  with  the  wrongs 
inflicted  by  the  East  India  Company  upon  the  dwellers  in 
Hindostan,  with  the  commercial  tariffs  of  European  nations, 
with  the  persecution  of  the  Jews  in  Asia,  with  the  causes  of 
the  opium  war  in  China,  with  the  relative  rights  of  planters 


80  FEEEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

and  laborers  in  the  Western  Archipelago,  and  he  was  at  home 
in  each.  I  have  seen  him  hold  the  House  of  Commons  spell 
bound,  call  shouts  from  the  elite  of  British  intelligence  and 
philanthropy  in  Exeter  hall,  lash  into  fury  or  hush  into  repose 
acres  of  wild  peasantry  gathered  on  the  moors  of  Ireland,  and 
he  was  at  home  with  each." 

The  opinion  is  unanimous  of  friends  and  foes  alike  tjiat 
O'Connell  was  a  master  spirit.  Historically  considered  as 
Catholic,  statesman,  abolitionist  and  orator,  he  occupies  none 
other  than  the  most  conspicuous  place. 

Perhaps  there  is  no  short-coming  we  are  so  ready  to  forgive 
and  overlook  in  our  eminent  men  as  neglect  of  religious  duty 
and  culture.  And  it  is,  perhaps,  equally  true  we  are  more 
tardy  in  our  recognition  and  appreciation  of  exalted  Christian 
character  in  such  persons  than  any  other  marked  peculiarity. 
No  one,  however,  can  fittingly  and  truthfully  describe,  por 
tray  the  character  of  O'Connell  who  does  not  dwell  with 
special  emphasis  upon  his  Catholic  Christian  devotion  and 
consistency.  In  his  religion,  a  Roman  Catholic,  he  was  not 
less  true  to  his  church  than  his  country.  As  zealous  as  Paul 
on  his  way  to  or  returning  from  Damascus,  he  was  as  con 
scientious  and  consistent.  He  was  loyal  to  his  own  convic 
tions,  earnest,  vigorous  and  faithful  in  his  profession,  and  his 
life,  like  his  death,  reveals  and  illustrates  the  beauty  and 
loveliness  of  his  active  religious  devotion  and  consistency. 

Indeed  the  church  and  Catholicity  are  largely  and  specially 
indebted  to  this  marked  and  model  representative  for  the 
exalted  standard  which  he  lifted  up  and  sustained  by  his 
conversation  and  life,  the  influence  he  exerted  and  impressed 
in  his  remarkable  and  interesting  death.  With  his  powers  of 
mind  still  strong,  his  faith  steady  and  aglow,  in  his  seventy- 
second  year,  after  forty-nine  years  of  professional  and  public 
service,  he  died  bearing  an  eloquent  and  affecting  testimony 
of  his  devotion  and  faithfulness  to  the  church  no  less  than  to 
his  country. 


DANIEL  O'CONNELL.  81 

Both  he  seems  to  have  regarded  with  an  affection  vigorous 
and  deep,  for  in  his  last  strange  dispositions  he  remembered 
each  in  making  the  bequest :  "  My  body  to  Ireland,  my  heart 
to  Rome,  my  soul  to  Heaven." 

Father  Ventura,  in  the  concluding  passage  of  his  elaborate 
and  masterly  funeral  discourse  upon  the  dead  Christian  hero,, 
explains  the  words  by  saying : 

"  He  loves  his  country,  and  therefore  he  leaves  to  it  his 
body  ;  he  loves  still  more  the  church,  and  hence  he  bequeathea 
to  it  his  heart ;  and  still  more  than  the  church  he  loves  God, 
and  therefore  confides  to  Him  his  soul." 

As  to  whether  he  loved  the  church  more  than  Ireland,  more 
than  independence  of  judgment  and  freedom  of  conscience 
for  all,  O'Conuell  leaves  us  in  doubt;  for  he  says  in  a 
speech  delivered  at  a  meeting  of  the  Catholic  board,  Decem 
ber  24,  1813  : 

"No  man  is  ever  converted  from  his  opinions  by  persecu 
tion  or  abuse.  Let  all  those  subjects  be  forever  banished  from 
among  us,  and  let  us  set  the  glorious  example  of  preaching 
and  practicing  the  doctrines  of  that  Christianity  which  is 
founded  in  fraternal  affection  and  best  evidenced  by  fraternal 
charity. 

"  For  my  own  part  I  have  devoted  much  of  my  time  to  the 
Catholic  cause;  a  time  of  little  value,  alas  to  my  country  r 
but  of  great  value  to  myself ;  but  I  would  not  give  up  one 
hour  of  that  time,  or  a  single  exertion  of  my  mind  to  procure 
the  mere  victory  of  any  one  sect  or  persuasion  over  the  others. 
No,  my  object  is  of  a  loftier  and  different  nature.  I  am  an 
agitator  with  ulterior  views.  I  wish  for  liberty  ;  real  liberty. 

"But  there  can  be  no  freedom  anywhere  without  perfect 
liberty  of  conscience.  That  is  of  the  essence  of  freedom  in 
every  place.  In  Ireland,  it  is  eminently,  almost  exclusively, 
the  hope  of  liberty. 

"  The  emancipation  I  look  for  is  one  which  would  establish, 
the  rights  of  conscience  upon  a  general  principle  to  which 
every  class  of  Christians  could  equally  resort,  a  principle 


82  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

which  would  serve  and  liberate  the  Catholics  in  Ireland,  but 
would  be  equally  useful  to  the  Protestant  in  Spain  ;  a  princi 
ple,  in  short,  that  would  destroy  the  Inquisition  and  the 
Orange  lodges-  together,  and  have  no  sacrilegious  intruder 
between  man  and  his  Creator!  I  esteem  the  Roman  Catholic 
religion  as  the  most  eligible.  All  I  require  is  that  the 
Protestant,  the  Presbyterian,  the  Dissenter,  the  Methodist, 
should  pay  the  same  compliment  to  his  own  persuasion,  and 
leave  its  success  to  its  own  persuasive  powers  without  calling 
in  the  profane  assistance  of  temporal  terrors,  or  the  corrupt 
influence  of  temporal  rewards." 

Hereafter  we  shall  more  fully  perceive  how  deeply  he  loved 
his  country.  Though  not  a  Catholic,  one  can  but  admire  and 
applaud  the  consistency,  zeal  and  devotion — if  not  wise,  earnest 
and  genuine — of  this  valiant  son  of  the  church.  Let  every 
one  be  true  to  his  own  soul ;  let  him  stand  or  fall  on  its  judg 
ment  alone.  For  one  true  to  himself  cannot,  will  not,  be  false 
either  to  God  or  humanity.  So  it  was  with  this  distinguished 
Irish  Catholic  layman. 

In  this  connection,  and  on  this  occasion,  I  may  neither 
make  assertion  nor  enter  upon  any  discussion  as  to  whether 
O'Conuell  might  not  have  shown  greater  wisdom,  have  more 
largely  secured  the  good  of  his  country  by  accepting  Protest 
antism  and  union  and  co-operation  with  its  friends.  I  only 
maintain,  and  no  man  can  reasonably  deny,  that  he  was 
faithful  and  loyal  to  the  religion  of  his  choice.  Nor  does  it 
come  within  the  line  of  my  duty  to  discuss  the  question  as  to 
whether  if  the  Orangemen  had  been  given  complete  and 
undisputed  control  of  Ireland — Catholicity  being  held  entirely 
subordinate  to  Protestantism — the  independence  of  the  coun 
try  might  not  have  been  maintained,  or,  if  lost  for  a  time, 
more  speedly  re-established,  and  the  happiness  of  the  people 
"more  securely  sustained  and  prolonged. 

Ireland  has  been,  is  to-day  unfortunate.  Her  divisions 
have  been  sore  and  fruitful  of  great  evil.  But  political,  no 


DANIEL  O' 'CONN ELL.  83 

less  than  religious  differences,  breed  divisions  which  work 
frequently  to  the  woe  of  the  people.  These  differences  among 
all  nations,  however  thoughtful,  enterprising  and  progres 
sive,  will,  in  the  very  nature  of  things  must,  exist.  While 
.the  human  mind  retains  its  present  constitution,  the  human 
soul  its  fidelity  to  its  own  affirmations  with  regard  to  duty, 
there  can  be  no  absolute  religious  union,  no  subordination  of 
all  individuals  of  a  single  nation,  or  all  nations,  to  the  same 
religious  belief.  O'Counell  favored  that  union,  that  concilia 
tion  and  cordiality  between  Catholics  and  Protestants  con 
sistent  with  this  independence  of  judgment,  this  natural 
difference  of  religious  conviction.  In  his  speech  on  the 
"French  Party"  he  says: 

"  Our  first  desire,  and  the  motives  which  govern  us,  are  to 
take  away  from  France  even  the  hop'3  of  success  by  removing 
those  excuses  of  distrust  and  dissension  and  weakness  in  this 
country,  which  at  present  are  really  so  many  temptations  to 
the  enemy  to  invade  us.  We  would  fain  excite  a  national 
and  Irish  party,  capable  of  annihilating  any  foreign  oppres 
sor  whatever,  and  devoted  to  the  amelioration  of  this  our 
native  land.  This  is,  indeed,  a  French  party  that  doex  exist 
in  Ireland ;  a  party  most  useful  to  the  views  and  designs  of 
France.  It  is  the  party  of  the  present  ministry  ;  that  party 
which  exerts  its  vicious  energies  to  divide,  distract  and  oppress 
the  realm  ;  that  loads  the  nation  with  the  weight  of  ill-judged 
taxation,  and  employs  the  money  wrung  from  poverty  and 
distress  in  fomenting  internal  dissensions;  in  calumniating 
the  Irish  people  to  each  other ;  accusing  the  Catholics  of  dis 
loyalty,  because  they  seek  the  rights  of  the  constitution, 
•charging  the  Protestants  with  bigotry,  and  yet  encouraging 
them  to  become  intolerant.  It  is,  in  fine,  this  party  which 
desolates  this  country,  and  then  talks  to  us  of  our  growing 
prosperity." 

George  Canning,  one  of  the  first  orators  of  Great  Britain, 
and  who  frequently  took  part  in  the  debates  on  the  Catholic 
•question,  "  with  signal  superiority  of  eloquence,  and  liberality 


84  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

of  sentiment,"  makes  on  one  occasion,  when  dwelling  on  this 
subject,  this  statement : 

'"The  great  body  of  Irish  Catholics  are,  it  is  said,  in  the 
hands  of  agitators,  who  wish  to  keep  their  discontents  alive ; 
who  care  not  for  the  professed  objects  of  Catholic  desire,  but 
look  to  ihe  ulterior  purposes  of  mischief;  to  separation  and 
revolution.  If  this  is  so,  we  can  only  defeat  the  evil  inten 
tions  of  such  men  in  two  ways :  either  by  correcting  their 
disposition  or  by  taking  away  their  means.  The  former  is 
beyond  human  power ;  let  us  avail  ourselves  of  the  latter. 
Let  us  remove  those  circumstances  which,  operating  upon  the 
feelings  of  the  Catholics,  render  them  fit  instruments  in  the 
hands  of  agitators  for  the  promotion  of  such  dangerous 
designs.  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  there  are  those  who 
have  ulterior  views  and  designs, 

"Of  those  who  are  the  most  clamorous  for  concession  there 
are  some,  I  do  believe,  who  would  be  much  disappointed  if 
that  concession  were  granted.  And  next  to  the  gratification 
which  I  should  feel  in  tranquillizing  a  loyal  and  high-minded 
people  by  the  introduction  of  that  equality  of  right  without 
which  there  can  be  no  reciprocal  liking  and  confidence,  is 
that  of  disappointing  the  guilty  hopes  of  those  who  delight, 
not  in  tranquillity  and  comfort,  but  in  grievances  and  remon 
strances;  who  use  their  sincere  and  warm-hearted  country 
men  as  screens  to  their  own  ambitious  purposes,  and  who 
consider  a  state  of  turbulence  and  discontent  as  best  suited 
to  the  ends  which  they  have  in  view.  That  state  it  may  be 
their  wish  to  prolong,  but  so  much  the  rather  is  it  our  inter 
est  and  our  duty  to  terminate  as  speedily  as  possible." 

O'Connell  was  the  "  arch-agitator,"  and  with  ulterior  views 
or  designs ;  but  what  these  designs  were  we  have  already 
learned  from  his  words  quoted  a  moment  ago.  He  agitated 
but  for  liberty,  real  liberty;  and  he  was  earnest,  sincere 
and  true.  The  father  and  liberator  of  his  country,  sacrificing 
for  her  his  private  resources,  his  professional  emoluments, 
his  personal  comfort  and  repose,  he  stands  in  history  with  a 
Christian,  though  Catholic  name  and  character,  which,  in 
their  beauty,  lustre,  glory,  are  unsurpassed. 


DANIEL  O'CONNELL.  85 

Mankind  are  not  agreed  as  to  whether  O'Connell  was  a 
statesman.  Two  opinions  certainly  are  entertained  with 
regard  to  this  subject.  Some  claim  that  if  he  is  to  be  regarded 
as  a  statesman  at  all  he  does  not  deserve  to  be  placed  in  the 
first  class.  Others  claim  that  he  is  not  only  to  be  given  place 
among  the  first  statesmen  of  the  world,  but  that  he  is  entitled 
to  conspicuous  place  among  the  mosl  prominent  even  of  this 
class. 

In  estimating  O'Connell's  character  as  a  statesman,  as  in 
all  such  cases,  very  much  depends  upon  our  conception  and 
definition  of  statesmanship.  If  we  mean  by  statesman,  a 
mere  politician,  one  connected  with  party,  seeking  mere  party 
ends,  and  through  party  personal  and  selfish  aggrandizement; 
if  we  mean  by  statesman  one  conversant  only  with  the 
affairs  of  his  own  country  and  government,  and  interested 
solely  in  the  progress  and  prosperity  of  his  own  people,  even 
to  the  neglect  or  damage  of  other  and  possibly  higher,  though 
interests  of  foreign  nations ;  if  by  statesman  we  mean  a  par 
tisan,  self-seeking,  narrow,  illiberal  in  his  views  and  judg 
ment  with  respect  to  state  affairs,  individual  and  national 
obligation  and  duty  in  this  regard ;  if  by  statesmanship  we 
mean  the  qualities  or  functions  of  the  mere  politician,  the 
partisan,  then  O'Connell  was  not  a  statesman — he  did  not 
cultivate  statesmanship.  He  had  no  party.  He  was  not 
a  partisan.  He  had  to  learn  no  party  tactics.  He  was 
schooled  in  no  party  drill.  The  Irish  people  composed  his 
party.  It  was  their  welfare  he  sought.  He  was  solicitous  to 
adopt,  develop  and  sustain  those  methods,  measures  and  means 
conducing  to  this  end.  Nor  did  he  seek  to  advance  and 
establish  the  welfare  of  his  own  country  without  due  regard 
to  the  claims  and  rights  of  others.  He  accepted  and  applied 
to  national,  as  well  as  individual  life,  the  Christian  maxim : 
"  What  we  demand  for  ourselves,  that  concede."  If,  on  the 


86  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

other  hand,  we  mean  by  statesman  one  acquainted  with  state 
craft,  one  conversant  with  its  learning  and  philosophy  as 
found  in  national  experience  and  achievement,  who,  while 
valuing  organization  for  important  state  and  popular  objects, 
is  committed  to  no  parly ;  one  who  does  not  seek  selfish  pro 
motion  or  emolument  thereby,  who,  while  understanding  and 
insisting  upon  the  just  demands  of  his  own  country,  concedes 
all  that  can  be  fairly  and  properly  demanded  of  his  own,  we 
must  pronounce  O'Connell  a  statesman,  and  give  him  high 
rank,  too,  among  the  foremost  statesmen  of  the  world. 

When  O'Connell  entered  professional  life  there  existed  the 
strongest  reasons  for  avoiding  politics,  and  he  seems  rather 
to  have  been  borne  by  the  influence  and  pressure  of  a  great 
occasion,  when  others  hesitated  and  faltered,  into  the  course 
and  current  of  his  subsequent  life.  His  son  and  biographer 


"  No  lawyer  could  then  hope  to  rise  in  his  profession  unless 
willing  to  be  the  parasite  and  slave  of  the  government,  and 
it  was  not  even  safe,  in  Ireland  at  least,  for  Protestant  or 
Catholic,  but  especially  for  the  latter,  to  be  found  in  opposi 
tion. 

"For  these  and  other  reasons  the  leading  members  of  Mr. 
O'Connell's  family  and  circle  of  friends  were  very  much  in 
disposed  to  his  putting  himself  forward  in  any  public  struggle, 
and  he  was  himself,  of  course,  fully  aware  of  the  disadvan 
tages  and  dangers  he  must  incur  by  so  doing.  But  he  could 
not  be  silent  when  he  saw  the  legislative  independence  of  his 
country  about  to  be  annihilated,  and  when  it  had  become 
clear  that  the  Minister  sought  to  implicate  the  Catholics  of 
Ireland  in  his  crime.  Overtures  had  already  been  made  in 
private  to  some  of  their  nominal  leaders,  and  rumor  said  that 
they  had  not  been  unfavorably  received,  timidity,  credulity 
or  corruption,  jointly  or  separately,  operating  to  produce  this 
result.  There  could  not,  indeed,  be  a  doubt  that  the  great 
bulk  of  the  Catholic  body  felt  as  Irishmen  should  on  this 
occasion,  and  abhorred  the  idea  of  the  Union  ;  but  they  were 


DANIEL  O'CONNELL.  8T 

entirely  unaccustomed  to  acting  in  concert  or  coming  forward 
in  their  aggregate  character.  Some  one  was  wanted  to  show 
them  the  way,  ,  Their  'natural  leaders,'  as  the  phrase  went, 
hung  back,  or  were  inclined  to  acquiescence  in  the  proposed 
measure.  The  Minister's  designs  against  the  good  repute 
and  independence  of  the  Catholic  body  seemed  about  to  be 
consummated,  when  just  at  the  critical  moment  Daniel  O'Con- 
nell  stepped  forward." 

Seventy-five  years  ago,  on  the  13th  of  January,  1799, O'Con- 
nell  delivered  a  speech  at  the  Royal  Exchange,  Dublin,  in 
connection  with  which  he  introduced  a  series  of  resolutions, 
the  first  and  last  of  which  embody  and  define,  in  few  words, 
his  political  philosophy.  These  resolutions  read  as  follows  : 

"  Resolved,  That  we  are  of  opinion  that  the  proposed  incor 
porate  union  of  the  Legislature  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland 
is,  in  fact,  an  extinction  of  the  liberty  of  this  country,  which 
would  be  reduced  to  the  abject 'condition  of  a  province  sur 
rendered  to  the  mercy  of  the  minister  and  legislature  of 
another  country,  to  be  bound  by  their  absolute  will,  and  taxed 
at  their  pleasure  by  laws,  in  the  making  of  which  this  coun 
try  would  have  no  efficient  participation  whatever. 

"Resolved,  That,  having  heretofore  determined  not  to  come 
forward  any  more  in  the  distinct  character  of  Catholics,  but  to- 
consider  our  claims  and  our  cause,  not  as  those  of  a  sect,  but 
involved  in  the  general  fate  of  our  country,  we  now  think  it 
right,  notwithstanding  such  determination,  to  publish  the 
present  resolutions  in  order  to  undeceive  our  fellow-subjects 
who  may  have  been  led  to  believe,  by  a  false  representation, 
that  we  are  capable  of  giving  any  concurrence  whatsoever  to 
so  foul  and  fatal  a  project,  to  assure  them  we  are  incapable  of 
sacrificing  our  common  country  to  either  pique  or  pretension ; 
and  that  we  are  of  opinion  that  this  deadly  attack  upon  the 
nation  is  the  great  call  of  nature,  of  country  and  posterity 
upon  Irishmen  of  all  descriptions  and  persuasions,  to  every 
constitutional  and  legal  resistance;  and  that  we  sacredly 
pledge  ourselves  to  persevere  in  obedience  to  that  call  as  long 
as  we  have  life." 

The  words  of  these  resolutions,  the  wise,  just  and  liberal 


88  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

sentiments  which  they  contain,  remind  one  of  the  eloquent 
and  sagacious  utterances  of  the  leading  American  statesmen 
of  our  Kevolutionary  times. 

James  Otis,  one  of  the  first  and  foremost  champions  of 
freedom  and  popular  government,  concentrating  and  voicing 
the  judgment  of  these  statesmen,  declares  that  "government 
springs  from  the  necessities  of  nature,  and  have  an  everlasting 
foundation  in  the  unchangeable  will  of  God.  The  first  princi 
ple  and  great  end  of  government  being  to  provide  for  the  best 
good  of  all  people,  this  can  only  be  done  by  a  supreme  legis 
lature  and  executive  ultimately  in  the  people  or  the  whole 
community,  where  God  has  placed  it.  The  right  of  every 
man  to  his  life,  his  liberty,  no  created  being  can  rightfully 
contest.  They  are  rights  derived  from  the  Author  of  Nature ; 
inherent,  inalienable  and  indefeasible  by  any  law,  compacts, 
contracts,  covenants  or  stipulations  which  man  can  devise. 
God  made  all  men  naturally  equal." 

As  a  statesman  O'Connell  labored  to  establish  the  unity, 
independence,  and  freedom  of  Ireland.  To  this  end  he 
would  emancipate  every  inhabitant,  and  perpetuate  freedom 
of  conscience ;  he  would  annul  the  Legislative  Union  between 
England  and  Ireland,  and  give  to  Ireland  her  own  constitu 
tion  and  the  rights  it  guaranteed,  through  her  own  govern, 
ment.  In  considering  his  long  and  persistent  labors  in 
behalf  of  his  country,  the  sacrifices  which  he  made,  the 
sufferings  and  trials  which  he  endured,  his  imprisonment 
and  triumphant  release  therefrom,  his  double  election  from 
Clare,  his  entry  and  brilliant  career  in  the  Imperial  Parlia 
ment,  his  matchless  and  eloquent  addresses  before  the  con 
gregated  thousands  who  gathered  at  Dublin,  Ennis,  Tara 
and  other  places  made  classic  by  his  presence  and  utterances, 
we  accept  as  fit  and  truthful  when  he  says : 

"I  have  already  devoted  all  the  faculties  of  my  soul  to 


DANIEL  O'CONNELL.  89 

the  pursuit  of  the  liberties  of  my  country ;  and  humble  as 
my  capabilities  are,  I  had  already  given  them  all  to  my 
native  land. 

"  Alas  !  the  gift  was  small,  but  it  included  certainly  purity 
of  design,  sincerity  of  intention,  perseverance  of  exertion, 
contempt  of  personal  danger,  neglect  of  personal  advantage, 
and,  finally,  incorruptible  integrity  and  truth." 

And  those  other  words  which  he  uttered  after  accepting 
the  plate  tendered  him  on  behalf  of  the  Catholic  people  of 
Ireland,  when,  continuing,  he  said : 

"  For  myself  I  need  not  tell  you  that,  in  the  struggle  for 
the  liberties  of  Ireland,  every  peril,  personal  or  political,  is 
to  me  a  source  of  pleasure  and  gratification.  *  *  *  I 
have  heretofore  loved  my  country  for  herself.  I  am  now  her 
bribed  servant,  and  no  other  master  can  possibly  tempt  me 
to  neglect,  forsake,  or  betray  her  interests." 

O'Connell  claimed  and  demanded  "home  rule"  for  Ire 
land  ;  the  repeal  of  the  act  of  union,  and  the  restoration  of 
the  situation  of  1782-1800,  when  Ireland  had  her  separate 
and  independent  Parliament.  And  it  will  prove  a  difficult 
task  for  the  opposers  of  such  restoration  to  show  why  inde 
pendent  home  government,  wisely  and  firmly  established 
under  a  just  .constitution,  would  not  prove  of  the  greatest 
benefit  to  the  Irish,  bringing  them  national  peace,  union  and 
prosperity.  Such  government,  judiciously  administered,  can 
prove  no  source  of  confusion,  can  generate  no  feelings  of 
malcontent  among  the  people. 

If  we  in  our  States  may  enjoy  self-government,  indepen 
dent  as  to  all  matters  pertaining  to  State  sovereignty,  with 
out  confusion  and  with  the  largest  good  order  and  happiness, 
why  may  not  Ireland  with  her  home  Parliament?  Popular 
government  is  worth  so  much,  is  so  desirable,  is  so  calcu 
lated — if  we  may  judge  from  national  experience,  our  own 
especially — to  work  and  support  popular  good  that  we 
F 


90  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

demand  for  Ireland  and  the  Irish  people  this  inestimable 
blessing.  It  would  seem  that  Americans  could  do  no  less, 
no  other  thing.  I  know  that  the  colored  American,  so 
lately  made  free,  lifted  from  chattelhood  to  the  dignity  of 
manhood,  citizenship,  political  responsibility  and  official 
duty,  in  the  ardor  and  enthusiasm  inspired  by  his  new  life 
of  freedom,  makes  haste  to  extend  his  hand  of  sympathy  and 
"encouragement  to  the  struggling  son  of  Ireland,  whose  soul, 
catching  the  accents,  the  deathless,  eloquent  voice  of  O'Con- 
nell,  would  throw  off  its  chains  and  assert  its  natural,  inhe 
rent  right  of  self-government.  The  colored  American  is 
too  sensible  of  his  debt  of  gratitude  to  O'Connell  and  the 
great  leaders  of  the  Irish  people  to  be  unsympathetic  or 
indifferent  to  Ireland's  conditions  and  struggles. 

Before  this  audience,  at  this  time,  when  popular  convic 
tion  is  so  distinct  and  pronounced,  as  far  as  government  by 
every  nation  for  itself  and  in  its  own  interest  is  concerned, 
I  need  not  say  that  the  enunciation  and  advocacy  of  this 
measure  discover  the  wisdom  of  commanding  and  genuine 
statesmanship.  And  its  establishment  in  Ireland,  I  believe, 
is  the  only  thing  that  will  bring  conciliation  and  cordiality 
to  Catholics  and  Protestants,  securing  justice,  peace,  pros 
perity  and  happiness  to  all  the  people. 

History  gives  O'Connell  yet  another  and  not  less  interest 
ing  and  pleasing  character.  I  refer  now  to  him  as  an 
abolitionist,  occupying  a  deservedly  conspicuous  place  by 
Clarkson,  Wilberforce,  Buxton,  Brougham,  Macaulay, 
Sturge,  and  others  who  compose  the  brilliant  group  of 
Great  Britain's  leading  abolitionists.  It  has  been  well  said 
that  the  "  tribute  which  Great  Britain  has  paid  to  the  genius 
of  humanity  by  her  efforts  and  sacrifices  for  the  abolition  of 
the  African  slave  trade  and  Negro  slavery,  is  the  aspect 
in  which  she  delights  to  be  contemplated  by  other  nations. 


DANIEL  O'CONNELL.  91 

If  this  be  true  we  may  not  forget  on  this  occasion  what 
she  owes  to  the  noole  sons  of  Ireland,  whose  eloquent  words 
go  so  far  to  complete  the  beautiful  testimony  which  she  has 
borne  on  this  subject.  We  may  not  forget  the  words  of  Cur- 
ran  ;  here  I  may  emphasize  those  of  O'Connell.  More  than 
half  a  century  ago  the  former  declared  in  words  familiar  to  us : 

"  I  speak  in  the  spirit  of  our  constitution,  which  makes 
liberty  commensurate  with  and  inseparable  from  our  soil ; 
which  proclaims,  even  to  the  stranger  and  the  sojourner,  the 
moment  he  sets  his  foot  upon  our  native  earth,  that  the  ground 
he  treads  is  holy  and  consecrated  by  the  genius  of  universal 
emancipation  ;  no  matter  in  what  language  his  doom  may 
have  been  pronounced;  no  matter  what  complexion,  incom 
patible  with  freedom,  an  Indian  or  an  African  sun  may 
have  burnt  upon  him ;  no  matter  in  what  disastrous  battle 
his  liberty  may  have  been  cloven  down ;  no  matter  with  what 
solemnities  he  may  have  been  devoted  on  the  altar  of  slavery, 
the  first  moment  he  touches  our  sacred  soil  the  altar  and  the 
god  sink  together  in  the  dust ;  his  soul  walks  abroad  in  her  own 
majesty  ;  his  body  swells  beyond  the  measure  of  his  chains 
that  burst  around  him,  and  he  stands  redeemed,  regenerated 
and  disenthralled  by  the  irresistible  genius  of  universal 
emancipation." 

In  1830,  a  year  memorable  as  the  one  in  which  the  friends 
of  the  abolition  movement  urged  and  demanded  immediate, 
as  opposed  to  gradual  emancipation,  O'Connell  uttered  these 
noble  and  grateful  words : 

"  I  am  for  speedy,  immediate  abolition.  I  care  not  what 
caste,  creed  or  color  slavery  may  assume,  I  am  for  its  total, 
its  instant  abolition.  Whether  it  be  personal  or  political, 
mental  or  corporal,  intellectual  or  spiritual,  I  am  for  its 
immediate  abolition.  I  enter  into  no  compromise  with  slav 
ery;  I  am  for  justice  in  the  name  of  humanity,  and  accord 
ing  to  the  law  of  the  living  God." 

The  utterance  of  such  sentiments,  made  with  force,  elo 
quence  and  power,  was  well  calculated,  not  only  to  change, 


92  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

reform  and  settle  the  popular  judgment  of  Great  Britain  and 
the  West  India  Islands,  where  slavery  existed,  against  that 
institution,  but,  since  the  utterance  was  made  by  O'Connell, 
an  orator  of  rare,  royal  power,  a  statesman  of  consummate 
ability,  commanding  by  his  address  the  attention  of  senates 
as  well  as  the  people  of  all  civilized  lands,  its  influence  was 
felt  especially  and  appreciated  in  our  own  country,  encourag 
ing,  strengthening  and  sustaining  the  noble  band  of  American 
abolitionists  in  their  warfare  upon  a  despotism  black  and 
cruel  as  death.  O'Connell  was  not  content,  however,  with 
the  indirect,  though  inevitable  effect,  produced  by  his  utter 
ances  on  this  subject  upon  the  American  people.  He  knew, 
too,  how  large  the  number  of  Irishmen  was — sous  of  his  own 
native  land,  Catholics,  with  church  relationships  in  Ireland, 
which  had  be«n  incorporated  into  our  body  politic,  and 
become  responsible  in  a  good  measure  for  the  character  of 
our  nation  as  regarded  by  mankind.  He  therefore  bore  a 
direct  and  earnest  and  uncompromising  and  positive  testi 
mony  against  our  enslavement  of  the  Negro,  and  the  pro 
scription,  the  feeling  of  caste,  which  it  generated  and  fostered. 
We  remember  his  address  to  the  Irish  Repeal  Association,  of 
Cincinnati,  Ohio,  accompanying  the  Pope's  allocution  of  slav 
ery  and  the  slave  trade.  Addressing  the  association,  he 
commences  by  saying : 

"We  have  read  with  the  deepest  affliction,  not  unmixed 
with  some  surprise  and  much  indignation,  your  detailed  and 
anxious  vindication  of  the  most  hideous  crime  that  has  ever 
stained  humanity — the  slavery  of  men  of  color  in  the  United 
States  of  America.  We  are  lost  in  utter  amazement  at  the 
perversion  of  mind  and  depravity  of  heart  which  your 
address  evinces.  How  can  the  generous,  the  charitable,  the 
humane,  the  noble  emotions  of  the  Irish  heart  have  become 
extinct  among  you  ?  How  can  your  nature  be  so  totally 
changed  as  that  you  should  become  the  apologists  and  defend 
ers  of  that  execrable  system  which  makes  mac  the  property 


DANIEL  O' CONN  ELL.  93 

of  his  fellow-man,  destroys  the  foundation  of  all  moral  and 
social  virtues,  condemns  to  ignorance,  immorality  and  irre- 
ligion,  millions  of  our  fellow-creatures  ;  renders  the  slave 
hopeless  of  relief,  and  perpetuates  oppression  by  law,  and 
in  the  name  of  what  you  call  a  constitution  ? 

"  It  was  not  in  Ireland  you  learned  this  cruelty.  Your 
mothers  are  gentle,  kind  and  humane.  Their  bosoms  over 
flow  with  the  honey  of  human  charity.  Your  sisters  are  prob 
ably  many  of  them  still  among  us,  and  participate  in  all  that 
is  good  and  benevolent  in  sentiment  and  action.  How,  then, 
can  you  have  become  so  depraved  ?  How  can  your  souls 
have  become  stained  with  a  darkness  blacker  than  the  Negro's 
skin  ?  You  say  you  have  no  pecuniary  interest  in  Negro 
slavery. 

"Would  that  you  had,  for  it  might  be  some  palliation  of 
your  crime  !  But,  alas  !  you  have  inflicted  upon  us  the  hor 
ror  of  beholding  you  the  volunteer  advocates  of  despotism 
in  its  most  frightful  state;  of  slavery  in  its  most  loathsome 
and  unrelenting  form." 

The  association  had  made  in  its  address  this  statement : 
"  The  very  odor  of  the  Negro  is  almost  insufferable  to  the 
white,  and,  however  much  humanity  may  lament  it,  we  make 
no  rash  declaration  when  we  say  the  two  races  cannot  exist 
together  on  equal  terms  under  our  Government  and  our 
institutions."  He  replies :  "  In  the  first  place,  as  to  thi 
odor  of  the  Negroes,  we  are  quite  aware  that  they  have  not 
as  yet  come  to  use  much  of  the  ottar-of-roses  or  eau-de-cologne. 
*  *  *  But  it  is  indeed  deplorable  that  you  should  use 
a  ludicrous  assertion  of  that  description  as  one  of  the  induce 
ments  to  prevent  the  abolition  of  slavery.  The  Negroes 
would  certainly  smell  at  least  as  sweet  when  free  as  they  do 
now  being  slaves." 

Continuing,  he  asks  :  "  Have  you  enough  of  the  genuine 
Irishman  among  you  to  ask  what  it  is  we  require  you  to  do  ? 
It  is  this : 

"  First,  we  call  upon  you  in  the  sacred  name  of  humanity 


94  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

never  again  to  volunteer  on  behalf  of  the  oppressor,  nor  even 
for  self-interest  to  vindicate  the  hideous  crime  of  personal 
slavery. 

"  Secondly,  we  ask  you  to  assist  in  every  way  you  can  in 
promoting  the  education  of  the  free  man  of  color,  and  in 
discountenancing  the  foolish  feeling  of  selfishness,  of  that 
criminal  selfishness,  which  makes  the  white  man  treat  the 
man  of  color  as  a  degraded  or  inferior  being. 

"  Thirdly,  we  ask  you  to  assist  in  obtaining  for  the  free 
men  of  color  the  full  benefit  of  all  the  rights  and  franchises 
of  a  freeman  in  whatever  State  he  may  inhabit. 

"  Fourthly,  we  ask  you  to  exert  yourselves  in  endeavoring 
to  procure  for  the  man  of  color  in  every  case  the  benefit  of 
trial  by  jury,  and  especially  where  a  man,  insisting  that  he 
is  a  freeman,  is  claimed  to  be  a  slave. 

"  Fifthly,  we  ask  you  to  exert  yourselves  in  every  pos 
sible  way  to  induce  slave-owners  to  emancipate  as  many 
slaves  as  possible.  *  *  * 

"  Sixthly,  we  ask  you  to  exert  yourselves  in  all  the  ways 
you  possibly  can  to  put  an  end  to  the  internal  slave-trade 
of  the  States.  *  *  * 

"  Seventhly,  we  ask  you  to  use  every  exertion  in  your 
power  to  procure  the  abolition  of  slavery  by  the  Congress  in 
the  District  of  Columbia. 

"  Eighthly,  we  ask  you  to  use  your  best  exertions  to  com 
pel  the  Congress  to  receive  and  read  the  petitions  of  the 
wretched  Negroes,  and  above  all  the  petitions  of  their  white 
advocates. 

"  Ninthly,  we  ask  you  never  to  cease  your  efforts  until  the 
crime  of  which  Lord  Morpeth  has  accused  the  Irish  in  Amer 
ica,  '  of  being  the  worst  enemies  of  the  men  of  color,'  shall 
be  atoned  for  and  blotted  out  and  effaced  forever." 

He  dwells  then  upon  the  duty  of  the  Catholics  and  of  the 
Catholic  clergy,  holding  that  "the  Catholic  clergy  may  endure, 
but  they  assuredly  do  not  encourage  the  slave-owners.  We 
have,  indeed,  heard  it  said  that  some  Catholic  clergymen 
have  slaves  of  their  own,  but  it  is  added  and  we  are  assured 
positively  that  no  Irish  Catholic  clergyman  is  a  slave-owner. 


DANIEL  O'CONNELL.  95 

At  all  events,  every  Catholic  knows  how  distinctly  slave- 
holding,  and  especially  slave-trading,  is  condemned  by  the 
Catholic  church.  That  most  eminent  man,  His  Holiness, 
the  present  Pope,  has,  by  an  allocution  published  through 
out  the  world,  condemned  all  dealing  and  traffic  in  slaves. 
Nothing  can  be  more  distinct  nor  more  powerful  than  the 
Pope's  denunciation  of  that  most  abominable  crime.  Yet  it 
subsists,  in  a  more  abominable  form  than  His  Holiness  could 
possibly  describe,  in  the  traffic  which  still  exists  in  the  sale 
of  slaves  from  one  State  of  America  to  another.  What, 
then,  are  we  to  think  of  you,  Irish  Catholics,  who  send  us 
an  elaborate  vindication  of  slavery  without  the  slightest  cen 
sure  of  that  hateful  crime — a  crime  which  the  Pope  has  so 
completely  condemned — namely,  the  diabolical  raising  of 
slaves  for  sale,  and  selling  them  to  other  States  ?  " 

He  adds  :  "  We  conclude  by  conjuring  you,  and  all  other 
Irishmen  in  America,  in  the  name  of  your  fatherland,  in  the 
name  of  humanity,  in  the  name  of  the  God  of  mercy  and  char 
ity,  we  conjure  you,  Irishmen  and  descendants  of  Irishmen, 
to  abandon  forever  all  defence  of  the  hideous  Negro  slavery 
system.  Let  it  no  more  be  said  that  your  feelings  are  made 
so  obtuse  by  the  air  of  America  that  you  cannot  feel,  as 
Catholics  and  Christians  ought  to  feel,  this  truth,  the  plain 
truth,  that  one  man  cannot  have  any  property  in  another  man. 
There  is  not  one  of  you  who  does  not  recognize  that  prin 
ciple  in  his  own  person ;  yet  we  perceive,  and  this  agonizes 
us  almost  to  madness,  that  you,  boasting  an  Irish  descent, 
should,  without  the  instigation  of  any  pecuniary  or  inter 
ested  motive,  but  out  of  the  sheer  and  single  love  of  wick 
edness  and  crime,  come  forward  as  the  volunteer  defenders 
of  the  most  degrading  species  of  human  slavery." 

O'ConnelPs  opposition  to  slavery  was  positive,  stern,  un 
compromising,  allowing  no  excuse  or  palliation.  He  refused 


96  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

even  to  take  the  hand  of  an  American  who  was  not  opposed 
to  the  institution.  Kobert  Purvis,  Esq.,  one  of  the  most  distin 
guished  colored  Americans,  an  old  abolitionist  of  consistent 
and  useful  record,  wrote  me  a  letter  on  the  14th  instant, 
from  which  I  take  these  words  : 

"  It  was  my  good  fortune,  while  in  England,  to  meet  Ire 
land's  great  liberator,  Daniel  O'Connell.  The  interview 
occurred  at  the  House  of  Commons.  Upon  being  intro 
duced  to  him  as  an  American  gentleman,  he  declined  taking 
my  hand.  Whereupon  my  friend,  John  Scoble,  Esq.,  (to 
whom  I  was  indebted  for  the  introduction),  upon  seeing  this, 
immediately  said  :  '  Mr.  Purvis  is  an  abolitionist,  and  is 
also  identified  with  the  oppressed  race  of  the  United  States.' 
Mr.  O'Connell  instantly  advanced  toward  me,  and  taking 
my  hand  in  his,  shook  it  warmly,  saying  :  '  I  will  never  take 
the  hand  of  an  American,  nor  should  any  honest  man  in  this 
country  do  so,  unless  assured  that  he  is  opposed  to  the 
accursed  system  of  chattel  slavery.'  " 

The  words  of  the  address  of  O'Connell  referred  to,  writtei 
in  1843,  sound  even  now  as  wise  counsel,  earnest,  pat< 
nal  exhortation  to  the  Irish  citizens  of  America,  being  un 
mindful  of  the  past,  solicitous  only  for  the  future,  to  unit 
with  the  once  enslaved  and  disfranchised  colored  American, 
to-day  a  fellow -citizen  and  a  voter,  in  cordial,  fraternal  and 
patriotic  purpose,  and  endeavor  to  put  our  Government  and 
laws  in  harmony  with  that  doctrine  of  our  Declaration,  the 
equality  of  rights  for  all  before  the  law,  upon  which  we 
have  formed  and  built  our  political  fabric  as  upon  the  rock. 
It  is  well  if  such  purposes  animate  the  heart  of  the  Irishman ; 
if  these  classes,  so  similar  in  past  experience  of  oppression 
and  suffering,  so  alike  in  duty  and  destiny,  under  American 
law,  unite  in  such  endeavor. 

My  opinion  of  O'Connell  as  an  orator  is  sufficiently  indi 
cated  already.  It  will  be  conceded  that  the  world  has  seen 
few  abler,  more  skillful  and  powerful  popular  orators  than 


DANIEL  O'CONNELL.  97 

he.  John  Randolph  called  him  the  finest  orator  in  Europe. 
Possessing  rare  native  vigor  of  mind,  its  powers  disciplined 
by  complete  education  ;  his  memory  filled  with  varied  and 
large  knowledge  of  men  and  things ;  his  imagination  buoy- ' 
ant  and  elastic;  his  logic,  his  humor,  his  invective,  his 
sarcasm  abundant,  and  trained,  musical  voice,  with  the 
power  and  manner  of  an  actor,  he  was  irresistible,  and,  in 
many  respects,  incomparable.  An  American  writer  says  of 
him  that  "  every  chord  of  the  human  bosom  lay  open  to  his 
touch,  and  he  played  upon  its  passions  and  emotions  with  a 
master's  hand.  He  could  subdue  his  hearers  to  tears  by  his 
pathos,  or  toss  them  with  laughter  by  his  humor.  His  im 
agination  could  bear  them  to  a  giddy  height  on  its  elastic 
wing,  or  he  could  enchain  their  judgment  by  the  strong  links 
of  his  logic.  He  could  blanch  their  cheeks  as  he  painted 
before  their  eyes  some  atrocity  red  with  blood,  or  he  could 
make  them  hold  their  sides  as  he  related  some  broad  Irish 
ancedote  fresh  from  Cork." 

O'Connell  was  indeed  an  orator  of  wondrous,  marvelous 
power,  and  it  all  he  dedicated  to  truth,  freedom  and  justice. 
It  is  as  the  defender  of  the  Catholics  of  Ireland — demanding 
for  them  in  forum,  Parliament,  or  in  popular  assembly 
emancipation  and  freedom  of  conscience ;  as  the  advocate 
and  expounder  of  propositions  of  governmental  reform  in 
the  interest  of  his  countrymen ;  as  the  champion  of  British 
and  American  abolitionism,  insisting  upon  liberty  and  equal 
rights  for  the  Negro,  that  his  oratorical  power  appears  in 
its  most  resplendent  character,  dazzling  our  vision. 

But  I  must  conclude.  Such,  too  briefly  and  imperfectly 
described,  are  the  qualities  of  character,  the  transcend  ant 
powers  and  the  beneficent  achievements  of  him  who  stands 
in  history  a  figure  of  light,  full-orbed  and  radiant,  the  best 
type  and  representative  of  the  Irish  name,  the  benefactor  of 
mankind. 


98  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

In  my  youth  I  read  and  was  moved  and  deeply  impressed 
by  the  words,  with  which  I  conclude  may  address.  Henry 
B.  Stanton,  Esq.,  dwelling  upon  the  fact  that  a  demand  wa& 
•made  finally  that  the  National  Repeal  Association  repudiate 
the  non-resistant  doctrine  of  O'Connell,  says  : 

"  The  alienation  of  large  numbers  of  his  friends  overtak 
ing  him  when  his  powers  were  impaired  by  years  of  exhaust 
ing  toil  broke  the  spirit  of  the  old  man,  undermined  his- 
constitution,  and  compelled  him  to  repair  to  the  continent 
to  resuscitate  his  waning  health  and  drooping  heart.  But  he 
left  the  field  of  action  too  late.  His  energies  rapidly 
declined ;  death  overtook  him  while  on  his  weary  pilgrimage ; 
his  eye  saw  the  sun  for  the  last  time  in  a  foreign  sky,  and 
he  slept  his  final  sleep  far  from  the  land  which  gave  him 
birth,  and  from  that  ocean  by  whose  side  his  cradle  was 
rocked.  The  stroke  that  felled  him  to  the  earth  sent  a  pang 
through  many  a  heart  in  every  country  where  humanity  has 
a  dwelling-place ;  for  his  sympathies,  like  his  reputation,  were 
world  wide.  He  had  delivered  his  own  countrymen  from  the 
bonds  of  ecclesiastical  tyranny,  and  had  pleaded  for  the  vic 
tims  of  a  hellish  traffic  on  the  shores  of  Africa,  for  the 
swarthy  surfs  of  British  cupidity  on  the  banks  of  the  Gan 
ges,  for  the  persecuted  Jews  of  ancient  Damascus,  and  for 
the  stricken  slaves  in  the  isles  of  the  Carribbean  Sea  and  in 
the  distant  States  of  America." 

Requiescat  in  pace!  Let  him  rest  in  peace !  His  name 
is  immortal — the  priceless,  enduring  heritage  of  mankind. 


CITIZENSHIP  AND  THE  BALLOT. 

THE  RELATIONS  OF  THE  COLORED  AMERICAN"  TO 
THE  GOVERNMENT  AND  ITS  DUTY  TO  HIM-A 
COLORED  AMERICAN  THE  FIRST  HERO  OF  THE 
REVOLUTIONARY  WAR.* 


In  the  broad  and  far-reaching  track  of  slavery  across  this 
country,  we  witness  a  grand  desolation  of  civil  and  political 
rights.  Every  class  in  the  American  population  can  enter 
its  complaint  that  it  has  been  shorn  of  many  rights  and 
privileges,  by  reason  of  its  existence.  But  none  can  utter 
that  long,  loud,  lamentable  complaint,  making  the  ear  to 
tingle  and  the  heart  to  bleed,  that  can  be  uttered  by  the 
colored  American,  the  immediate  victim  of  its  barbarous 
torture.  As  a  slave  he  has  been  denied  himself,  his  wife, 
his  children,  and  his  earnings.  And  when  emancipated  his 
freedom  has  been,  in  some  sense,  a  mockery,  because  he  has 
been  deprived  of  those  civil  and  political  rights  and  powers 
which  render  enfranchised  manhood  valuable  and  its  digni 
ties  a  blessing. 

The  colored  man  is  not  content  when  given  simple  eman 
cipation.  That  certainly  is  his  due,  at  once  and  without 
condition  ;  but  he  demands  much  more  than  that :  he  de 
mands  absolute  legal  equality.  He  claims  the  right  to  bring 
a  suit  in  any  and  all  the  courts  of  the  country,  to  be  a  wit- 

*Address  delivered  before  the  Colored  Men's  Convention  of  Indiana,  In 
Masonic  Hall,  at  Indianapolis,  October  25,  1865. 


100  FEEEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

ness  of  competent  character  therein,  to  make  contracts, 
under  seal  or  otherwise,  to  acquire,  hold,  and  transmit  prop 
erty,  to  be  liable  to  none  other  than  the  common  and  usual 
punishment  for  offences  committed  by  him,  to  have  the 
benefit  of  trial  by  a  jury  of  his  peers,  to  acquire  and  enjoy 
without  hindrance  education  and  its  blessings,  to  enjoy  the 
free  exercise  of  religious  worship,  and  to  be  subjected  by 
law  to  no  other  restraints  and  qualifications,  with  regard  to 
personal  rights,  than  such  as  are  imposed  upon  others.  All 
this  he  claims.  In  some  States  all  this  is  conceded  to  him. 
There  is  one  thing  more,  however,  he  demands ;  he  demands 
it  at  the  hands  of  the  nation  and  in  all  the  States.  It  is 
the  free  and  untrammelled  use  of  the  ballot.  Shall  he  have 
it? 

Never  was  there  a  more  fitting  time  to  consider,  discuss, 
and  decide  this  question.  Since  the  outbreak  of  the  terrible 
rebellion,  the  colored  American  has  had  another  and  better 
introduction  to  the  American  people.  They  are  beginning 
to  regard  him  with  greater  favor,  and  their  old  stubborn 
prejudices  are  beginning  to  soften.  Indeed,  in  some  States 
they  have  already  entered  upon  the  work  of  repealing  those 
legislative  malformations  known  as  Black  Laws.  Once  in 
the  path  of  justice  and  of  duty,  it  is  easy  for  us  to  pursue 
it  till  we  reach  the  glorious  goal. 

It  becomes  our  duty  in  this  connection  to  consider  and 
refute,  if  possible,  the  chief  objections  urged  against  Negro 
suffrage. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  urged,  with  an  air  of  very  great 
confidence,  that  none  other  than  a  white  man  can,  or  ought 
to  be,  an  elector.  Hence  it  is  that  in  well-nigh  all  the  States 
in  which  persons  of  African  descent  are  denied  the  elective 
franchise,  you  will  find  in  their  organic  laws  language  like 
the  following : 

"  Every  ivhite  male  citizen  of  the  United  States,  of  the 


CITIZENSHIP  AND  THE  BALLOT.  101 

age  of  twenty -one  years,  who  shall  have  been  a  resident  of 
the  State  one  year  next  preceding  the  election,  and  of  the 
county,  township,  or  ward  in  which  he  resides  such  time  as 
may  be  prescribed  by  law,  shall  have  the  qualifications  of 
an  elector  and  be  entitled  to  vote  at  all  elections." 

What  is  meant  by  the  word  white  as  here  used?  The 
courts  have  not  left  us  without  an  answer  to  this  question. 
For  the  courts  of  Ohio,  from  whose  constitution  these  words 
are  quoted,  both  under  the  constitution  of  1802  and  the  con 
stitution  of  1851,  have  given  a  full  consideration  to  the  word 
"white"  and  settled  its  definition  for  all  time  in  the  light  of 
what  they  please  to  call  well-established  legal  principles. 
They  furnish  us  in  their  definition  this  very  unique  and 
remarkable  classification  of  the  people,  to  wit,  the  black,  the 
mulatto,  and  the  white ;  and  they  hold  "  that  all  men  nearer 
white  than  black,  or  of  the  grade  between  the  mulatto  and 
the  white  are  white,  and  entitled  to  vote  as  white  male  citi 
zens."  This  certainly  gives  breadth  and  comprehension  to 
the  word  "white,"  and  makes  all  persons  except  blacks  and 
mulattoes  "white."  Let  one  more  drop  of  Anglo-Saxon 
blood  than  Negro  course  your  veins  and  you  are  at  once 
endowed  with  the  requisite  qualifications  of  an  elector. 

On  this  point  let  full  justice  be  done  the  court.  Let  it 
speak  for  itself.  In  the  case  of  Parker  Jeffries  vs.  John 
Ankeny  and  others,  at  the  December  term  of  the  court 
in  bane,  this  doctrine  was  held,  in  the  following  words : 
"In  the  constitution  and  laws  on  this  subject  there  were 
enumerated  three  descriptions  of  persons,  whites,  blacks,  and 
mulattoes,  upon  the  last  two  of  which  disabilities  rested; 
that  the  mulatto  was  the  middle  term  between  the  extremes, 
or  the  offspring  of  a  white  and  a  black ;  that  all  nearer  white 
than  black  or  of  the  grade  between  the  mulattoes  and  the 
whites  were  entitled  to  enjoy  every  political  and  social  priv- 


102  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

ilege  of  the  white  citizen ;  that  no  other  rule  could  be  adopted 
so  intelligible  and  so  practicable  as  this,  and  that  further 
refinements  would  lead  to  inconvenience  and  no  good  result." 
This  is  the  law  of  Ohio  to-day. 

In  1859,  when  the  Legislature  of  Ohio  was  within  Demo 
cratic  control,  "  an  act  to  prescribe  the  duties  of  judges  of 
elections  in  certain  cases  and  preserve  the  purity  of  elec 
tions,"  was  passed,  the  first  section  of  which  reads  as  follows  : 
"  That  the  judge  or  judges  of  any  election  held  under  the 
authority  of  any  of  the  laws  of  this  State,  shall  reject  the 
vote  of  any  person  offering  to  vote  at  such  election  and 
claiming  to  be  a  white  male  citizen  of  the  United  States 
whenever  it  shall  appear  to  such  judge  or  judges  that  the 
person  so  offering  to  vote  has  a  distinct  and  visible  admix 
ture  of  African  blood."  This  statute,  however,  has  been 
pronounced  unconstitutional  by  the  Supreme  Court,  in  the 
celebrated  case  of  Anderson  vs.  Millikin  and  others,  as  re 
ported  in  the  eleventh  of  the  Ohio  State  Reports,  and  the 
old  doctrine  on  this  subject  reaffirmed. 

Upon  what  principles  of  humanity,  justice,  and  law  is 
this  doctrine  founded  ?  And  upon  what  principles  of  logic 
or  law  are  such  complexional  discriminations  made  ?  This 
color  theory  of  the  elective  franchise  finds  no  sanction  in  the 
affirmations  of  reason,  or  in  the  dictates  of  common  sense. 
Nor  is  any  sanction  given  it  in  the  organic  law  of  our  nation. 
The  Declaration  of  Independence  announces  the  doctrine, 
"  that  all  men  are  created  equal,"  and  the  Constitution,  in 
which  no  word  "white"  is  found,  provides  "that  Congress 
shall  guarantee  to  each  State  a  republican  form  of  govern 
ment,"  and  "that  the  citizens  of  each  State  shall  be  entitled  to 
all  the  privileges  and  immunities  of  the  citizens  of  the  several 
States."  Democracy,  too,  which  is  the  soul  of  law,  and  but 
another  name  for  justice  itself,  «  conceding  nothing  but  what 


CITIZENSHIP  AND  THE  BALLOT.  103 

it  demands,  and  demanding  nothing  but  what  it  concedes," 
guarding  the  rights  of  the  humble  as  well  as  the  exalted, 
and  protecting  the  rights  of  the  black  man  as  well  as  the 
rights  of  the  white  man,  scouts  it  as  absurd  and  unjust,  incon 
sistent  and  irrational. 

It  is  true  that  the  opinion  obtains  to  a  very  great  extent 
among  all  classes  of  our  people  that  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  either  by  the  direct  use  of  the  word  "  white," 
or  by  some  phraseology  equivalent  thereto,  does,  and  was 
intended  to  exclude  colored  men  from  every  right  and  privi 
lege  of  a  legal  and  political  character  under  it.  Hence  the 
gibberish  jargon  "  that  our  government  is  a  white  man's  gov 
ernment."  This  notion,  however,  is  forever  refuted  by  these 
masculine  and  truthful  words  of  one  of  the  justices  of  our 
national  Supreme  Court.  He  says  : 

"  It  has  been  often  asserted  that  the  Constitution  was  made 
exclusively  by  and  for  the  white  race.  It  has  already  been 
shown  that  in  five  of  the  thirteen  original  States  colored  per 
sons  then  possessed  the  elective  franchise,  and  were  among 
those  by  whom  the  Constitution  was  ordained  and  established, 
If  so,  it  is  not  true,  in  point  of  fact,  that  the  Constitution  was 
made  exclusively  by  the  white  race.  And  that  it  was  made 
exclusively  for  the  white  race  is,  in  my  opinion,  not  only  an 
assumption  not  warranted  by  anything  in  the  Constitution, 
but  contradicted  by  its  open  declaration,  that  it  was  ordained 
and  established  by  the  people  of  the  United  States,  for  them 
selves  and  their  posterity ;  and,  as  free  colored  persons  were 
then  citizens  of  at  least  five  States,  and  so  in  every  sense  part 
of  the  people  of  the  United  States,  they  were  among  those 
for  whom  and  whose  posterity  the  Constitution  was  ordained 
and  established." 

On  what  ground,  then,  does  the  white  man  claim  to  be  a 
voter  ?  And  on  what  argument  can  he  predicate  his  monop 
oly  of  the  voting  privilege-?  Does  he  claim  it  as  an  inherent 
and  natural  right,  peculiar  to  himself?  Does  he  claim  it  on 


104  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

the  ground  of  peculiarity  of  origin  ?  Does  he  demand  it  on 
the  basis  of  peculiar  conventional  regulation?  What  are  the 
peculiar  legal  or  political  characteristics  that  distinguish  him 
to  the  exclusion  of  his  black  fellow-countryman  as  a  citizen 
of  the  United  States  and  a  voter  ?  Blind  prejudice  can  make 
answer  to  these  questions  with  great  readiness.  It  would  say, 
he  is  white.  But  what  is  the  answer  of  wisdom,  logic,  and 
law?  They  would  say,  the  color  of  a  man's  skin  is  no  crite 
rion  or  measure  of  his  rights. 

This  fact  will  be  fully  recognized  by  our  courts  when  they 
come  to  make  that  definition  of  citizenship,  and  the  rights  and 
powers  of  a  citizen,  which,  while  it  excludes  the  elements  of 
white  and  black,  but  contains  all  the  essential  qualities  that 
distinguish  the  citizen,  will  challenge  criticism  and  defy  refu 
tation.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  na 
tion  will  have  occasion  to  give  us  this  definition  very  soon. 
We  certainly  need  it.  It  ought  to  be  given,  in  justice  to  the 
colored  American,  and  that  the  whole  people  of  the  country 
may  learn  from  some  authoritative  source  who  constitute  the 
citizens  of  the  land,  and  upon  what  their  rights  and  powers 
depend. 

This  objection  to  the  black  man's  voting  is  wholly  physical 
and  external.  He  is  black,  and  therefore  he  shall  not  vote. 

It  is  as  if  all  the  men  who  have  black  hair  and  black  beards, 
being  in  the  majority  and  having  the  power,  should  decide  that 
they  alone  are  voters,  and  that  no  man  having  light  hair  and 
sandy  beard  shall  vote  ;  or,  as  if  all  the  men  of  large  noses  in 
the  land  banding  themselves  together,  should  decide  that  they 
alone  are  voters,  and  that  no  man  having  a  small  nose  shall 
vote.  One  might  well  ask,  where  is  the  justice  of  this  pro 
cedure?  Men  of  light  hair  and  sandy  beards  might  resist 
with  propriety  the  decision  of  the  .black-hair  and  black-beard 
gentry.  And  who  would  say  that  the  small-nose  men  had  no 


CITIZENSHIP  AND  THE  BALLOT.  105 

right  to  utter  powerful  anathemas  against  the  men  of  large 
nasal  proportions,  who  had  committed  this  unnatural  outrage. 
These  supposed  cases  sufficiently  illustrate  and  refute  thi& 
objection. 

It  is  also  urged,  by  way  of  objection  to  our  use  of  the  bal 
lot,  "  that  we  are  an  ignorant  and  degraded  class,  and  would 
not  use, the  elective  franchise  in  an  intelligent  and  manly  man 
ner  if  we  had  it." 

This  objection,  like  all  others  of  similar  character,  is  to  be- 
met  with  firmness  and  candor.     It  is  not  to  be  forgotten  in- 
this  connection,  that  we  have  served  as  slaves  in  this  country 
for  more  than  two  hundred  years,  acd  that  during  these  many 
years  of  our  servitude  few  indeed  have  been  the  rays  of  light 
that  have  streaked  the  darkness  of  our  existence.     Nor  is  it  to 
be  forgotten  that  the  nominally  free  among  us  have  been 
haunted  by  a  prejudice  more  terrible  than  that  which  pur 
sued  the  Cagots  of  Spain  and  France.    This  pro  slavery  public  * 
sentiment  has  been  well-nigh  omnipotent,  as  omnipresent.    It  . 
has  entered  every  cranny  and  crevice  of  American  society.    It- 
has  closed  against  us  the  school,  the  college,  the  law,  and  the 
theological  seminary.   It  has  hindered  our  progress  in  politics^ 
religion,  literature,  and  the  arts. 

Notwithstanding  all  this,  we  have  made  surprising  ad 
vancement  in  all  things  that  pertain  to  a  well-ordered  and 
dignified  life.      Though  uttered  frequently,  it  may  be,  in . 
unclassic  and  inelegant  English,  we  have  always  been  able  ; 
to  give  the  reason  for  our  political  as  well  as  our  religious/ 
faith. 

We  have  grown  among  us  authors  and  orators,  doctors  and 
lawyers ;  we  have  established  newspapers  and  periodicals  • 
we  have  founded  churches  and  erected  schools;  we  have 
furnished  our  pulpits  with  ministers  and  our  school  rooms, 
with  teachers  of  our  own  complexion. 

G 


106  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP'.. 

We  have  held  large  State  and  national  conventions,,  con 
ducting  our  business  with  accuracy  and  precision,  according: 
to  the  rules  by  which  ordinary  deliberative  assemblies  are 
governed.  The  leading  men  of  these  gatherings,  in  handling, 
the  great  subjects  of  interest  to  the  American  people-  at 
large,  as  well  as  the  topics  pertaining  more  especially  to  @ur 
own  welfare,  have  made  exhibitions,  of  a  vsry  correct  and. 
thorough  understanding  of  our  national  history,,  the  gemius- 
of  our  institutions  and  the  philosophy  of  oar  politics.  In 
deed  the  newspapers  and  periodicals  of  this,  and  fordgn. 
countries  on  such  occasions  have  made  handsome  and  nat 
tering  mention  of  their  displays  of  learning,,  eloquence,,  and 
power. 

It  may  not  be  inappropriate  to  offer  here  the  opini©*i  of 
Hon.  Samuel  Galloway  on  this  very  point,  given  as  long  ago  as 
1849.  In  speaking  of  our  condition  and  progress  he,  said  : 

"Now  they  (the  colored  people)  have  many  and  well-con 
ducted  schools ;  they  have  teachers  of  respectable  intellectual 
and  moral  qualifications;  there  are  many  who  command  gen 
eral  respect  and  confidence  for  integrity  and  intelligence; 
questions  of  general  and  proper  interest  have  become  with 
them  topics  of  discussion  and  conversation ;  in  a  few  words, 
the  intellectual  and  moral  tone  of  their  being  is  ameliorated.'* 

But  it  may  be  said  that  such  words,  if  true,  can  only  have 
application  to  the  colored  men  of  the  North.  This,  however, 
cannot  be  so,  for  it  must  be  well  understood  by  all  conver 
sant  with  the  history  and  character  of  the  colored  people  of 
this  country,  North  and  South,  that  very  many  of  our  most 
sober,  industrious,  and  thrifty  men  come  from  the  South; 
indeed  it  will  not  be  denied  that  seven-eighths  of  our  me 
chanics,  gun-smiths,  blacksmiths,  brick  and  stone  masons, 
carpenters,  cabinet-makers,  plasterers,  and  painters  come 
from  the  Southern  section  of  the  land.  This  is  said  not  in 


CITIZENSHIP  AND  THE  BALLOT.  107 

praise  of  slavery  and  slave-holding  institutions,  but  in  spite 
of  them.  This  statement  only  testifies  to  the  energy,  the 
enterprise,  the  purpose  and  genius  of  the  colored  American. 

On  this  point  the  history  of  our  country  will  furnish  us 
no  inconsiderable  evidence,  for  if  it  can  be  shown  that  in 
the  past,  when  opportunity  was  given  us,  we  wielded  the 
ballot  with  intelligence  and  conscientiousness,  who  can  say, 
•after  many  years  of  progress  in  all  substantial  and  valuable 
•attainments,  that  we  are  not  now  able  to  vote  in  a  skillful 
And  conscientious  manner. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  persons  of  African  descent, 
•under  our  old  confederation,  were  voting  citizens  of  the 
United  States,  and  voted  in  at  least  five  States  of  the  Union 
at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  our  national  Constitution. 
With  regard  to  this  matter,  Justice  Curtis,  formerly  of  the 
United  States  Supreme  Court,  in  his  dissenting  opinion  in 
the  famous  Dred-Scott  case  uses  these  words  :  "  Of  this 
there  can  be  no  doubt.  At  the  time  of  the  ratification  of 
the  articles  of  confederation  all  free  native-born  inhabitants 
of  the  States  of  New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts,]^ ew  York, 
New  Jersey,  and  North  Carolina,  though  descended  from 
African  slaves,  were  not  only  citizens  of  those  States,  but 
such  of  them  as  had  the  necessary  qualifications  possessed 
the  franchise  of  electors  on  equal  terms  with  other  citizens." 
And  he  might  have  added  that  when  the  United  States  Con 
stitution  was  framed  colored  men  voted  also  in  Pennsyl 
vania,  Connecticut,  Rhode  Island,  Delaware,  and  Tennessee. 
Indeed  they  voted  in  a  majority  of  the  States,  and  in  very 
many  of  the  Northern  States  they  have  continued  to  vote  to 
this  day. 

In  this  connection  the  manly  and  vigorous  words  of  North 
Carolina's  ablest  and  most  distinguished  jurist  are  of  special 
value.  The  Hon.  William  Gaston,  of  the  supreme  court  of 


108  FEEEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

North  Carolina,  in  pronouncing  the  opinion  of  that  court  ii 
the  case  of  the  State  vs.  Manuel,  makes  use  of  these  brave 
utterances : 

"According  to  the  laws  of  this  State  (North  Carolina)  all  the 
human  beings  within  it,  who  are  not  slaves,  fall  within  one 
of  two  classes.  Whatever  distinctions  may  have  existed  in 
the  Roman  laws  between  citizens  and  free  inhabitants,  they 
are  unknown  to  our  institutions.  Before  our  Revolution,  all 
free  persons  born  within  the  dominions  of  the  King  of  Great 
Britain,  whatever  their  color  or  complexion,  were  native- 
born  British  subjects — those  born  out  of  his  allegiance  were 
aliens.  Slavery  did  not  exist  in  England,  but  it  did  in  the 
British  Colonies.  Slaves  were  not,  in  legal  parlance,  per 
sons,  but  property.  The  moment  the  incapacity,  the  disquali 
fication  of  slavery  was  removed,  they  became  persons,  and 
were  then  either  British  subjects  or  not  British  subjects, 
according  as  they  were  or  were  not  born  within  the  allegi 
ance  of  the  British  King.  Upon  the  Revolution  no  other 
change  took  place  in  the  laws  of  North  Carolina  than  was' 
consequent  on  the  transition  from  a  colony  dependent  on  a 
European  King  to  a  free  and  sovereign  State — slaves  re 
mained  slaves,  British  subjects  in  North  Carolina  became 
North  Carolina  freemen,  foreigners,  until  made  members 
of  the  State,  remained  aliens,  slaves  manumitted  here 
became  freemen ;  and,  therefore,  if  born  within  North  Caro 
lina  are  citizens  of  North  Carolina,  and  all  free  persons  born 
within  the  State  are  born  citizens  of  the  State.  The  Con 
stitution  extended  the  elective  franchise  to  every  freeman 
who  had  arrived  at  the  age  of  twenty -one,  and  paid  a  public 
tax,  and  it  is  a  matter  of  universal  notoriety  that,  under  it, 
free  persons,  without  regard  to  color,  claimed  and  exercised 
the  franchise  until  it  was  taken  from  freemen  of  color  ft 
few  years  since  by  our  amended  Constitution." 

In  none  of  these  States,  in  which  we  have  been  allowed 
the  use  of  the  ballot,  have  we  betrayed  the  confidence  or  the • 
trust  reposed  in  us.     No  flattering  promises,  no  false  state 
ments  of  designing  politicians,  no  offers  of  money  or  strong 


CITIZENSHIP  AND  THE  BALLOT.  109 

potations  of  liquor  have  been  used  by  partisans  with  any 
degree  of  success  in  our  case.  We  have  constantly  sought 
out  the  party  and  the  candidates  that  would  conserve  and 
perpetuate  American  liberty  and  free  institutions.  No  mere 
party  shibboleth  has  ever  had  weight  with  us.  Our  training, 
secured  in  a  life  of  oppression;  our  experience,  gathered 
from  contact  with  the  instruments  of  torture  and  despotism, 
wed  us  to  the  party  of  freedom  and  free  principles. 

Touching  the  capability  and  sincerity  with  which  the  right 
of  suffrage  is  exercised  by  the  colored  men  of  New  York, 
the  Hon.  Wm.  H.  Seward,  now  occupying  the  first  position 
in  the  Cabinet  of  President  Johnson,  holds  the  views  pre 
sented  in  the  following  letter  : 

WASHINGTON,  May  16th,  1850. 

DEAR  SIR  :  Your  letter  of  the  6th  inst.  has  been  received. 
I  reply  to  it  cheerfully  and  with  pleasure. 

It  is  my  deliberate  opinion,  founded  upon  careful  obser 
vation,  that  the  right  of  suffrage  is  exercised  by  no  citizen 
of  New  York  more  conscientiously,  or'  more  sincerely,  or 
with  more  beneficial  results  to  society,  than  it  is  by  the 
electors  of  African  descent.  I  sincerely  hope  that  the  fran 
chise  will  before  Iongj3e  extended,  as  it  justly  ought,  to  this 
race  who  of  all  others  need  it  most. 

I  am,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

WM.  H.  SEWARD. 

This  objection,  however,  if  it  possesses  any  real  signifi 
cance,  and  if  urged  with  any  degree  of  sincerity  and  candor 
covers  entirely  too  much  ground.  For  under  it,  what  be 
comes  of  the  ignorant  and  degraded  white  American,  and 
what  of  the  newly-naturalized  foreigner,  whose  untutored 
mind  fails  to  read  and  understand  the  meaning  of  American 
politics? 

Leaving  these  objections,  then,  we  come  with  sobriety  and 
earnestness  to  the  question  :  Upon  what  ground  does  the 
colored  American  plant  his  claims  to  the  elective  franchise? 


110  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP, 

As  far  as  the  native-born  inhabitants  of  the  country  are 
concerned,  we  have  no  faith  in  the  opinion  that  the  right  of 
suffrage  is,  in  any  sense  to  be  regarded  simply  as  conven 
tional.  We  hold  that  it  is  an  inseparable  and  essential  ele 
ment  of  self-government ;  and  none,  certainly,  on  reflection, 
will  question  this  position.  Without  the  privilege  of  say 
ing  who  shall  make  our  laws,  what  they  shall  be,  and  who 
shall  execute  them,  there  can  be  no  self-government.  This 
was  the  sentiment  of  the  Fathers  of  the  Republic;  and  upon 
this  foundation-principle,  as  upon  enduring  granite,  they 
established  the  free  institutions  of  the  land.  This  right  is 
not  created  by  constitutions  simply,  nor  is  it  uncreated  by 
them.  Its  existence  does  not  depend  upon  the  texture  of 

man's  hair,  the  conformation  of  his  countenance,  or  the 
color  of  his  skin.  It  is  a  constituent  element  of  manhood ; 
and  it  stands  prominent  among  the  chief  duties  of  civil 
society  to  sustain  and  guard  it. 

But  are  we  men,  and  are  we  so  related  to  the  American 

0 

G  overnment  that  it  owes  us  any  obligation  of  protection  in 
the  exercise  of  this  right  ?  The  declaration  that  we  are 
men  requires  no  amplification  or  illustration.  The  anti- 
slavery  movement  of  this  country  has  progressed  too  far, 
and  the  character  and  achievements  of  the  colored  Ameri 
can  stand  now  too  prominently  before  the  world  for  his 
manhood  to  be  doubted.  Nor  is  it  any  denial  of  his  man 
hood  that  his  fellows,  overcoming  him  by  brute  force,  have 
enslaved  and  outraged  him;  for  this  notion  was  forever 
blasted  when  Terence,  clad  in  chains,  rushed  out  upon  the 
Amphitheater  of  Rome,  thrilling  the  vast  concourse  there 
assembled,  by  the  announcement  of  the  masculine  and 
nervous  sentiment :  "  Homo  sum  :  atque  niliil  humani  a  me 
alienum  puto" 

Our  relation  to  the  Government  will  be  seen  at  once,. 


CITIZENSHIP  AND  THE  BALLOT.  Ill' 

when  it  is  remembered,  in  the  first  place,  that  we  are  native- 
born  inhabitants  and  therefore  citizens.  That  nativity  gives 
citizenship  is  a  doctrine  fully  recognized  by  American  law 
and  American  usage.  Its  existence,  as  far  as  our  country 
is  concerned,  dates  back  to  the  very  beginning  of  the  Gov 
ernment.  Chancellor  Kent  gives  it  full  indorsement  in 
these  terms  :  "  Citizens,  under  our  Constitution  and  laws, 
mean  free  inhabitants,  born  within  the  United  States  or1 
naturalized  by  the  laws  of  Congress.  If  a  slave  born  in  the 
United  States  be  manumitted  or  otherwise  legally  discharged ' 
fr<Mn  bondage,  or  if  a  black  man  be  born  within  the  United' 
States,  and  born  free,  he  becomes  thenceforward  a  citizen." 

But  when  we  urge  our  citizenship  as  a  reason  why  we  should1 
be  allowed  to  vote,  we  are  very  gravely  informed  that  voting: 
and  holding  office  are  not  essential  to  citizenship.     It  is  saic^. 
women  are  citizens,  and  so  are  minors,  but  they  are  neither 
allowed  to  vote  nor  hold  office.  Why  put  us  in  the  category  and' 
condition  of  women  and  minors  ?     Qualified  by  age,  residence, 
and  general  attainments,  our  position  is  now  one  of  men,  and  we 
demand  this  right  prima  facie  as  such.     There  may  be  inge- " 
nuity  in  this  ambidexterity,  but  certainly  no  reason.     It  is 
but  a  crude  and  inconsistent  dogma,  injected  into  American 
law  and  American  politics  by  slavery.     Its  true  character, 
however,  becomes  more  apparent  as  we  progress. 

Our  relation  to  the  Government  and  its  dufy  toward  us  will 
be  more  fully  apprehended  when  we  call  to  mind  the  fact  that 
we  are,  and  always  have  been,  taxpayers.  Nor  is  the  amount 
of  tax  we  pay  to  be  regarded  as  trivial  and  of  small  account. 
In  proportion  to  our  number,  we  pay  a  very  handsome  and 
considerable  sum.  In  the  State  of  Ohio,  in  which,  according 
to  the  census  of  1860,  the  colored  men  number  only  36,673, 
over  ten  millions  of  dollars  are  held  by  them,  subject  to  tax 
ation.  In  the  city  of  Cincinnati  alone  they  are  owners  of 


112  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

nearly  two  million  of  dollars'  worth  of  personal  property  and 
real  estate.  In  the  farming  districts  of  the  State — in  Gallia, 
Jackson,  Pike,  Ross,  Highland,  Franklin,  Clark,  Shelby,  and 
Mercer  counties — the  colored  men  are  owners  of  large  farms, 
which,  in  many  instances,  are  well  stocked  and  cultivated 
according  to  the  most  approved  methods  of  agriculture.  But 
the  taxes  paid  by  the  colored  men  of  Ohio  are  small,  com 
pared  with  those  paid  by  the  same  class  in  the  larger  and 
more  densely  populated  States.  The  taxes  of  the  colored 
men  of  the  States  of  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  Louisi 
ana  swell  to  large,  indeed,  enormous  proportions. 

These  tax  burdens,  too,  we  have  met  most  cheerfully.  Never 
liave  we  excused  ourselves,  and  never  have  we  been  excused 
from  them  on  account  of  our  color  or  our  race.  Even  when, 
after  payment  of  them,  denial  has  been  made  us  of  any  ad 
vantage  accruing  therefrom,  on  account  of  our  color,  they 
have  been  levied  and  paid  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  the 
'Government. 

It  will  not  be  denied  that  taxation  and  protection  are  cor 
relative  terms.  If  the  Government  taxes  a  man  it  owes  him 
protection.  Nor  can  it  be  justly  denied  that  he  who  meets 
the  burden  imposed  by  the  Government,  who  pays  its  taxes, 
who  supplies  it  with  the  materials  of  life  and  development, 
•should  have  a  voice  in  the  enactment  and  execution  of  the 
laws  according  to  which  its  taxes  are  imposed,  collected,  and 
expended.  Taxation,  protection,  and  representation  we  hold, 
'therefore,  to  be  inseparable,  constituting  at  once  the  bond  of 
<union  and  the  bond  of  obligation  between  the  Government 
and  the  citizen. 

It  is  to  be  borne  in  mind,  also,  that  we  have  not  only 
promptly  met  our  obligations  as  taxpayers,  but  we  have  be 
haved  ourselves,  at  all  times  and  under  all  circumstances,  as 
earnest  and  devoted  patriots. 


CITIZENSHIP  AND  THE  BALLOT.  113 

Indeed,  we  love  this  country.  We  love  it  as  our  native 
country,  although  it  has  been  th'e  land  of  our  sore  oppression. 
Its  Constitution  and  the  free  institutions,  which  are  its  natural 
outgrowth,  are  objects  of  our  fondest  affection .  The  evidences 
of  this  affection  are  found  scattered  through  the  history  of  the 
country,  as  it  records  the  heroic  deeds  of  the  colored  Ameri 
can  in  our  revolutionary  struggles,  the  war  of  1812,  and  the 
bloody  battles  of  our  late  stupendous  rebellion. 

Always  on  the  side  of  the  Government,  always  struggling 
for  the  maintenance  of  law  and  order,  we  have  rallied  at  the 
call  of  the  country,  bringing  her  our  strong  arms,  our  indom 
itable  courage,  and  our  unswerving  loyalty. 

To  our  own  conduct  in  this  respect  our  statesmen,  orators, 
and  generals  have  borne  their  testimony  in  the  most  eulogistic 
terms.  Over  the  gallant  conduct  of  the  colored  soldiers  of 
the  Devolution  the  glowing  periods  of  Eustis  and  Pinckney 
cast  a  halo  of  immortal  beauty,  while  their  brilliant  achieve 
ments  on  Lake  Erie  and  at  New  Orleans  are  immortalized  in 
the  eloquent  sentences  of  Drake  and  Jackson. 

Says  Governor  Eustis,  of  Massachusetts,  in  a  speech  deliv 
ered  in  Congress,  December  12,  1820: 

"At  the  commencement  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  there 
were  lound  in  the  Middle  and  Northern  States  many  blacks 
and  other  people  of  color  capable  of  bearing  arms,  a  part  of 
them  free,  the  greater  part  slaves.  The  freemen  entered  our 
ranks  with  the  whites.  The  time  of  those  who  were  slaves 
was  purchased  by  the  States,  and  they  were  induced  to  enter 
the  service  in  consequence  of  a  law,  by  which,  on  condition 
of  their  serving  in  the  ranks  during  the  war,  they  were  made 
freemen.  In  Rhode  Island,  where  their  numbers  were  more 
considerable,  they  were  formed,  under  the  same  considera 
tions,  into  a  regiment  commanded  by  white  officers,  and  it  is 
required  in  justice  to  them  to  add  that  they  discharged  their 
duty  with  zeal  and  fidelity.  The  gallant  defence  of  Red 
Bank,  in  which  this  black  regiment  bore  apart,  is  among  the 
proofs  of  their  valor. 


114  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

"Among  the  traits  that  distinguish  this  regiment  was  their 
devotion  to  their  officers;  when  their  brave  Colonel  Greene 
was  afterwards  cut  down  and  mortally  wounded,  the  sabres 
of  the  enemy  reached  his  body  only  through  the  limbs  of  his 
faithful  guard  of  blacks,  who  hovered  over  him,  and  protect 
ed  him,  every  one  of  whom  was  killed,  and  whom  he  was  not 
ashamed  to  call  his  children.  The  services  of  this  description 
of  men  in  the  navy  is  also  well  known." 

The  Hon.  Charles  Pirjkney,  of  South  Carolina,  when  ad 
dressing  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States 
on  the  same  occasion,  also  said: 

"  It  is  a  most  remarkable  fact  that,  notwithstanding,  in  the 
course  of  the  Revolution,  the  Southern  States  were  complete 
ly  overrun  by  the  British,  and  that  every  negro  in  them  had 
an  opportunity  o'f  leaving  his  owner,  few  did.  They  were 
then,  and  still  are,  as  valuable  a  part  of  our  population  to 
the  Union  as  any  other  equal  number  of  inhabitants.  They 
were  in  numerous  instances  the  pioneers,  and,  in  all,  the 
laborers  of  your  aimies.  To  their  hands  were  owing  the 
erection  of  the  greatest  pan  of  the  fortifications  raised  for  the 
protection  of  our  country,  some  of  which,  particulaily  Fort 
Moultrie,  gave  at  that  early  period  of  the  inexperiences  and 
untried  valor  of  our  citizens,  immortality  to  American  arms, 
and  in  the  Northern  States  numerous  bodies  of  them  were 
enrolled  into  and  fought,  by  the  side  of  the  whites,  the  bat 
tles  of  the  Revolution." 

In  the  constitutional  convention  of  New  York  held  in 
1821,  Dr,  Drake,  the  delegate  from  Delaware  County,  said: 

"  In  your  late  war  they  (the  colored  people  of  Ney  York) 
contributed  largely  to  some  of  your  most  splendid  victories. 
On  Lakes  Erie  and  Champlain,  when  your  fleets  triumphed 
over  a  foe  superior  in  numbers  and  engines  of  death,  they 
were  manned  in  a  large  proportion  with  men  of  color.  And 
in  this  very  house,  in  the  fall  of  1814,  a  bill  passed,  receiving 
the  approbation  of  all  branches  of  your  Government,  authoriz 
ing  the  Government  to  accept  the  services  of  a  corps  of  2,000 
free  people  of  color.  Sir,  these  were  tiroes  which  tried  men's 


CITIZENSHIP  AND  THE  BALLOT.  115 

souls.  In  these  times  it  was  DO  sporting  matter  to  bear 
arms.  These  were  times  when  a  man  shouldered  his  musket 
he  did  not  know  but  he  bared  his  bosom  to  receive  a  death 
wound  ere  he  laid  it  aside;  in  these  times  these  people  were 
found  as  ready  and  as  willing  to  volunteer  in  your  service  as 
any  other.  They  were  not  compelled  to  go.  They  were  not 
drafted.  No!  Your  pride  had  placed  them  beyond  your 
compulsory  power.  But  there  was  no  necessity  for  its  exer 
cise;  they  were  volunteers  ;  ye?,  they  were  volunteers  to  defend 
that  country  from  the  inroads  and  ravages  of  a  ruthless  and 
vindictive  foe,  which  had  treated  them  with  insult,  degrada 
tion,  and  slavery." 

The  hero  of  New  Orleans,  Gen  Andrew  Jackson,  address 
ed  his  colored  troops  in  these  complimentary  and  matchless 
words : 

"Soldiers!  When  on  the  banks  of  the  Mobile  I  called  you 
to  take  up  arms,  inviting  you  to  partake  the  perils  and  glory 
of  your  white  fellow  citizens,  I  expected  much  from  you;  for 
I  was  not  ignorant  that  you  possessed  qualities  most  formid 
able  to  an  invading  enemy.  I  knew  with  what  fortitude  you 
could  endure, hungrr  and  thirst,  and  all  the  fatigues  of  a 
campaign.  I  knew  well  how  you  loved  your  native  country, 
and  that  you  as  well  as  ourselves  had  to  defend  what  man 
holds  most  deur — his  parent?,  wife,  children,  and  property. 
You  have  done  more  than  I  expected.  In  addition  to  the  pre 
vious  qualities  I  before  knew  you  to  possess,  I  found  among 
you  a  noble  enthusiasm  which  leads  to  the  performance  of 
great  things. 

"  Soldiers  !  The  President  of  the  United  States  shall  hear 
how  praiseworthy  was  your  conduct  in  the  hour  of  danger, 
and  the  representatives  of  the  American  people  will  give  you 
the  praise  your  exploits  entitle  you  to.  Your  general  anti 
cipates  them  in  applauding  your  noble  ardor. 

"  The  enemy  approaches,  his  vessels  cover  our  lakes,  our 
brave  citizens  are  united  and  all  contention  has  ceased 
among  them.  Their  only  dispute  is,  who  shall  win  the  prize 
of  valor,  or  who  the  most  glory,  its  noblest  reward,'* 


116  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

That  the  blood  of  loyal  fathers  courses  the  veins  of  loyal 
sons  is  manifest  from  the  fact  that  the  only  loyal  class  in 
our  population  is  that  furnished  by  the  colored  American. 
He  has  conceded  to  others  the  monopoly  of  treason.  No 
traitor  encased  in  ebony  has  been  found  in  all  the  land. 
Those  who  boast  of  ivory  encasi-ngs  furnish  the  traitors. 
Davis  and  Stephens,  Vallandingham  and  Pendleton,  together 
with  all  the  lesser  bodies  that  reflect  their  treason,  claim 
any  other  than  a  Negro  origin.  We  are  glad  of  it.  We  lay 
no  claim  to  these  men.  They  may  be  learned,  able,  and 
eloquent,  but  with  hearts  surcharged  with  treason  their 
learning,  ability  and  eloquence  are  not  to  be  prized  as  the 
common  sense  and  sound  judgment  of  a  loyal  man,  however 
black,  whose  soul  is  obedient  to  the  commands  of  liberty  and 
patriotism.  When,  at  the  commencement  of  the  present 
rebellion,  we  proffered  the  Government  our  services,  and  the 
President,  the  governors  of  the  various  States,  and  the  chief 
commanders  of  our  army  rejected  them,  informing  us  that 
this  was  a  "white  man's  war,"  our  ardor  and  enthusiasm 
abated  not  a  single  tittle.  We  were  patient.  We  did  not 
run  to  the  enemy.  We  gave  him  no  aid.  With  us  he  found 
no  comfort.  At  length  the  time  came  when  our  learned 
statesmen,  our  sagacious  politicians,  and  our  earnest  gen 
erals  discovered  that  the  rebellion  was  of  such  proportions, 
its  spirit  so  malignant  and  obstinate,  that  "  military  neces 
sity,"  if  not  justice,  demanded  that  the  colored  American 
have  a  place  as  a  soldier  in  the  mighty  contest  which  has 
been  waged  for  the  maintenance  of  liberty,  free  principles, 
and  democratic  institutions.  We  were  then  called  to  the 
.service ;  and  that  our  response  has  been  manful  is  proved 
by  the  fact  that  nothwithstanding  we  were  at  first  denied 
equal  pay,  the  usual  allowance  for  clothing,  and  every  oppor 
tunity  for  promotion  beyond  the  rank  of  a  non-commissioned 


CITIZENSHIP  AND  THE  BALLOT.  117 

officer,  we  have  already  given  to  the  service  over  two  hun 
dred  thousand  stalwart,  brave,  and  gallant  men.  And  since 
entering  the  service  the  colored  soldier  has  been  truly  heroic. 
Ycm  will  seek  in  vain  among  the  soldiers  of  any  land,  ancient 
or  modern,  for  exhibitions  of  greater  endurance,  more  un 
daunted  courage,  and  more  enthusiastic  devotion  than  he  has 
displayed.  His  behavior  at  Port  Hudson,  at  Milliken's  Bend, 
at  Nashville,  at  Petersburg,  at  Suffolk,  at  New  Market 
Heights,  at  Fort  Wagner  and  Olustee,  not  to  mention  many 
other  places  at  which  the  colored  soldier  played  a  conspicu 
ous  part,  covers  him  with  imperishable  glory.  It  has  been 
especially  fortunate,  too,  for  this  country  that  the  colored 
American  has  been  so  earnestly  patriotic  and  loyal.  For 
divided  as  the  country  has  been,  the  South  arrayed  against 
the  Government,  and  thousands  of  disaffected  persons  in  the 
North  indirectly  giving  sympathy  and  aid  to  the  rebellion, 
the  colored  American  has  been,  by  reason  of  his  numbers 
and  Spartan  qualities  as  a  soldier,  a  power  aiding  greatly  in 
bringing  victory  to  the  arms  of  the  Government. 

With  regard  to  our  numbers,  our  strength,  and  the  value 
of  our  loyalty  to  the  Government,  the  judicious  and  truthful 
statements  of  Robert  Dale  Owen  in  a  letter  addressed  to 
the  Hon.  Salmon  P.  Chase,  on  the  conditions  of  lasting 
peace,  and  founded  upon  the  facts  and  figures  of  1860,  are 
comprehensive  and  clear.  He  says  : 

"By  tfie  census  of  1860  the  number  of  white  males 
between  the  ages  of  18  and  45  is,  in  the  loyal  States,  about 
four  millions,  and  in  the  disloyal  States  about  one  million 
three  hundred  thousand ;  a  little  upwards  of  three  to  one. 
The  disproportion  seems  overwhelmingly  great.  But  this 
calculation,  as  a  basis  of  military  strength,  is  wholly  falla 
cious,  for  it  includes  persons  of  one  color  only.  Out  of  the 
above  four  millions  the  North  has  to  provide  soldiers  and 
(with  inconsiderable  exceptions,  not  usually  extending  to 


118  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

field  labor)  laborers  also.  But  of  the  three  millions  and  a 
half  of  slaves  owned  in  the  rebel  States,  about  two  millions 
may  be  estimated  as  laborers.  Allow  three  hundred  thou 
sand  of  these  as  employed  in  domestic  services  and  other 
occupations  followed  by  women  among  us,  and  we  have 
seventeen  hundred  thousand  plantation  hands,  male  and 
female,  each  one  of  which  counts  against  a  Northern  labor 
er  on  farm  or  in  workshop.  Then  of  that  portion  of  popu 
lation  whence  soldiers  and  out-door  laborers  and  mechanics 
must  chiefly  be  taken,  the  Northern  States  have  four  mill 
ions  and  the  Southern  States  three  millions.  Supposing 
the  Negroes  all  loyal  to  their  masters,  it  follows  that  the 
true  proportions  of  strength  available  in  this  war — that  is, 
of  all  soldiers  to  fight  and  laborers  to  support  the  nation 
while  fighting — may  fairly  enough  be  taken  at  three  in  the 
South  to  four  in  the  North.  Under  the  supposition  of  a 
South  united,  without  regard  to  color,  in  an  effort  for  recog 
nition,  shall  we  obtain  peace  by  subduing  her  ?  If  his 
tory  teach  truth  we  shall  not.  Never,  since  the  world  began, 
did  nine  millions  of  people  band  together,  resolutely  inspired 
by  the  one  idea  of  achieving  their  independence,  yet  fail  to 
obtain  it.  It  is  not  a  century  since  one-third  of  the  number 
successfully  defied  Great  Britain.  But  let  us  suppose  the 
Negroes  of  the  South  loyal  to  the  Union  instead  of  to  their 
masters,  how  stands  the  matter  then?  In  that  case,  it  is 
not  to  a  united  people,  but  to  a  Confederacy  divided  against 
itself,  that  we  are"  opposed;  the  masters  on  one  side,  the 
laborers,  exceeding  them  in  number,  on  the  other.  Suppose 
the  services  of  these  laborers  transferred  to  us,  what  will 
then  be  the  proportion  on  either  side  of  forces  available, 
directly  and  indirectly,  for  military  purposes?  As  about 
five  and  three-fourths  to  one  and  one-third;  in  other  words, 
nearly  as  nine  to  two.  Such  a  wholesale  transfer  is,  of 
course,  impossible  in  practice.  But  in  so  far  as  the  trans 
fer  is  possible,  and  shall  occur,  we  approach  the  above 
results." 

But,  indeed,  our  transfer  has  been,  as  a  class,  a  wholesale 
one.  It  has  been  so  all  along  the  past.  It  is  so  to-day ;  if 
not  in  bodily  presence,  certainly  in  spirit  and  aspiration. 


'CITIZENSHIP  AND  THE  BALLOT.  119 

And  it  is  a  source  of  special  pride  and  pleasure  that  we  are 
able  to  announce  the  fact  that  this  has  been  so  from  the 
very  beginning  of  the  American  Government.  For  if 
hifetory  be  true  he  who  on  the  second  day  of  October, 
4750,  was  advertised  in  the  Boston  Gazette  or  Weekly  Jour 
nal  as  a  runaway  slave,  fell  twenty  years  afterwards  in  the 
Boston  massacre,  March  5th,  1770,  in  "the  first  act  of  the 
drama  of  the  American  Revolution,"  a  hero  and  a  martyr. 
Crispus  Attucks,  a  mulatto  slave,  was  the  first  American  that 
fell  giving  his  life  and  blood  in  defense  of  his  country.  His 
bold  and  daring  conduct  stirred  the  hearts  and  nerved  the 
•arms  of  his  comrades,  whom  John  Adams  describes  in  his 
plea  in  defense  of  the  soldiers  who  shot  him,  as  a  "motley 
.rabble  of  saucy  boys,  Negroes  and  mulattoes,  Irish  Teagues 
and  outlandish  jack  tars."  Be  it  so.  God  takes  the  weak 
things  of  the  world  to  confound  the  mighty.  And  Attucks 
-and  Gray,  Caldwell,  Maverick  and  Car,  were  the  first  offer 
ings  of  the  country  deemed  worthy  to  be  made  against  "  the 
encroachments  of  arbitrary  power." 

As  the  first  hero  of  the  Revolutionary  War  was  a  black 
•man,  may  we  not  indulge  the  hope  and  prayer  that  the  last 
hero  of  our  present  struggle  may  be  one  of  the  dark-hued 
sons  of  American  toil.  And  when  we, rear  that  monument 
in  the  midst  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  which  shall  perpet 
uate  the  glory  of  our  present  victorious  achievements,  a 
monument  of  grander  and  loftier  proportions  than  Bunker 
Hill  monument,  may  we  not  inscribe  his  name  upon  its 
granite  sides  in  golden  characters. 

We  claim  the  elective  franchise  in  the  name  of  our  man- 
.hood,  our  nativity,  and  our  citizenship,  in  the  name  of  the 
doctrine  that  taxation,  protection,  and  representation  are 
naturally  inseparable,  and  in  the  name  of  that  loyalty  under 
the  promptings  of  which  we  have  performed  for  the  country 


120  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

and  the  Government,  in  the  army  and  the  navy,  such  brave 
and  manly  deeds.  We  claim  it,  too,  because  we  are  intelli 
gent  men,  men  of  sufficient  intelligence  to  wield  it  consci 
entiously  and  with  good  results  to  the  State. 

In  making  our  claim  in  the  light  of  these  considerations 
we  come  with  no  new  and  unusual  theories,  in  the  name  of 
no  false  and  fanatical  conceptions  of  right  and  law.  Our 
claim  is  based  upon  principles  which,  when  applied  to  any 
and  all  other  classes  of  the  people,  are  recognized  as  just 
and  democratic. 

In  addition  to  these  all-sufficient  reasons  in  favor  of  our 
claim  we  cannot  fail  to  mention  a  consideration  that  must 
sooner  or  later  result  favorably  to  us  from  political  neces 
sity.  Our  arms  are  victorious ;  the  revolted  States  are  now 
to  be  reconstructed  in  accordance  with  the  fundamental 
principles  of  the  Constitution  and  the  anti-slavery  policy  of 
the  Government.  As  the  Government  has,  for  the'last  four 
years,  needed  loyal  and  earnest  men  to  handle  the  musket 
in  war,  so  it  to-day  needs  men  of  the  same  character  to  wield 
the  ballot  in  sustaining  its  principles.  The  ballot  is  no  less 
potent  than  has  been  the  musket.  From  what  source  can 
these  loyal  and  earnest  voters  be  had?  The  white  men  of 
the  seceding  States,  have  almost  all  shown  themselves  un 
faithful  to  the  Government;  not  more  than  one-fourth  of 
them  have  remained  heartily  true  to  the  Union.  This  faith 
ful  and  honorable  minority  will  not  be  able  by  its  votes  to 
sustain  the  policy  of  the  Government.  The  other  part  of 
the  white  population  has  been  conquered,  it  is  true,  but  not 
converted.  Their  submission  is  only  that  of  restive  and 
malignant  rebels — sullen  acquiescence,  while  they  are  actu 
ated  by  no  other  purpose  than  to  hinder  and,  if  possible, 
prevent  the  establishment  of  the  great  principles  that  under 
lie  our  governmental  policy.  What  more  could  be  expected 


CITIZENSHIP  AND  THE  BALLOT.  121 

of  men  whose  souls  have  been  embittered  by  their  sad  ex 
periences  in  the  effort  to  establish  their  independence,  and 
who  have  been  educated  by  the  teachings  of  slavery  and  the 
false  social  influence  it  engenders  to  hate  the  Government 
and  despise  the  free  principles  it  seeks  to  establish  in  the 
subjugated  States.  But  one  course  will  be  left  the  Govern 
ment.  It  cannot  import  voters.  They  must  certainly  be 
residents  of  the  States  in  which  they  vote.  Its  only  course 
will  be  to  put  the  ballot  in  the  hands  of  the  Negro,  who,  in 
all  the  history  of  the  past,  has  given  incontestible  evidence 
of  his  devotion  to  the  Union  of  the  States  founded  on  the 
Constitution  and  freedom.  Thus,  as  military  necessity 
brought  us  emancipation  and  arms,  political  necessity  may 
yet  bring  us  enfranchisement  and  the  ballot.  Touching  this 
point,  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  profound  thinkers  of  our 
country  utters  the  following  pregnant  words  on  the  question  : 

"Do  we  need  the  aid  of  the  Negro  as  a  loyal  citizen? 
They  (all  thoughtful  men)  will  admit  it  to  be  one  of  the  great 
questions  of  the  day,  whether  (leaving  the  abstract  right  or 
wrong  of  the  case  untouched)  we  can  prudently  or  safely 
for  our  own  sakes  withhold  from  the  freedman  his  political 
rights,  and  thus  leave  disfranchised,  at  a  critical  juncture 
in  our  history,  a  loyal  half  of  a  disaffected  population. 
They  will  ask  themselves  whether,  as  we  have  found  need 
of  the  Negro  as  a  soldier  to  aid  in  quelling  the  rebellion  we 
do  not  require  his  assistance  as  pressingly  in  the  character 
of  a  loyal  citizen  in  reconstructing  on  a  permanently  peace 
ful  and  orderly  basis  the  insurrectionary  States." 

This  is  a  fit  theme  for  the  consideration  and  reflection  of 
our  wise  men.  Upon  it  we  need  not  dwell  at  length  in  this 
connection.  The  future  will  bring  us  its  golden  promise. 

The  path  of  duty  with  regard  to  us  is  plain  to  the  Amer 
ican  people.      Justice  and  magnanimity,  expediency  and 
self-interest  indicate  but  one  course.     Shall  those  who  are 
H 


122  FEEEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

natives  to  the  soil,  who  fight  the  battles  of  the  country,  who 
pledge  to  its  cause  their  property  and  their  sacred  honor  be 
longer  denied  the  exercise  of  the  ballot?  It  ought  not,  it 
cannot  be.  The  great  events  that  are  coming  to  pass  in  this 
nation,  the  crumbling  of  slavery  and  the  dissipation  of  preju 
dice,  give  prophecy  of  a  diiferent  result.  God  and  destiny 
are  on  our  side,  and  it  becomes  the  colored  American  to  pre 
pare  himself  at  once  for  the  complete  investure  of  legal 
equality. 


BISHOP  RICHARD  ALLEN. 


THE  MONUMENT  TO  HIS  MEMORY  — THE  FIRST 
MONUMENT  EVER  ERECTED  BY  THE  COLORED 
RACE  IN  AMERICA. 


[The  following  address  was  reported  in  the  Philadelphia  Press  of  Decem 
ber  .18, 1876,  with  these  editorial  comments  by  Hon.  J.  W.  Forney,  the  editor: 

Professor  John  M.  Langston,  LL.D.,  pronounced  a  discourse  last  evening; 
at  the  Bethel  African  Methodist  Church,  in  this  city,  printed  at  length  In  the 
Press  this  morning,  which  will  attract  and  deserves  unusual  attention.  It  is 
the  work  of  a  scholar  and  a  statesman,  and,  as  such,  will  be  read  with  proflj; 
by  thoughtful  men.  The  colored  people  have  made  marvellous  strides  since 
they  began  to  be  paid  for  their  labor  and  to  vote  their  opinions.  They  have 
elevated  themselves  even  as  they  enriched  iheir  prostrated  and  lately  pau 
perized  oppressors.  As  they  lifted  themselves  out  of  a  brutalizing  slavery, 
they  lifted  their  pardoned  persecutors  out  of  hopeless  poverty.  Such  a  race 
can  neither  be  bought  nor  safely  intimidated.  They  will  rise  in  defiance  of 
all  obstacles.  Professor  Langston  is  one  proof  of  the  inevitable  fulfilment  of 
this  prophecy  ;  and  his  words  last  night  showed  how  he  means  they  shall 
labor  to  make  it  sure.  Let  them  honor  such  a  leader  as  their  apostle,  by 
steadily  raising  themselves  to  the  high  level  of  his  great  gifts,  and  by  emu 
lating  his  own  remarkable  and  exemplary  career. 

The  22d  day  of  last  September  had  been  fixed  by  those  having  charge  of  the 
enterprise  r.s  the  time  when  there  should  be  erected  in  Fairmount  Park  a 
monument  in  honor  of  Bishop  Richard  Allen.  Dr.  Daniel  A.  Payne  had  been 
invited  to  unveil' the  monument,  and  Professor  John  M.  Langston  to  deliver 
the  address.  Because  of  an  unfortunate  railroad  accident,  in  which  the 
material  of  the  monument  was  badly  broken,  the  exercises  did  not  take  place 
in  September.  But  last  evening  they  came  off  at  the  Bethel  A.  M.  E  Church, 
corner  of  Sixth  and  Lombard  streets,  in  this  city.  The  Professor  delivered 
It  to  over  two  thongand  persons,  by  special  rpquest.  Elder  R.  E.  Wayman, 
the  pastor,  opened  the  services  with  appropriate  religious  exercises,  and  Dr. 
H.  M.  Turner,  publisher  of  the  Christian  Recorder  of  this  city,  in  a  few  well- 
chosen  remarks  introduced  the  orator.  Professor  Langston  asked  his  hearers 
to  imagine  themselves  on  the  22d  day  of  last  September  in  Fairmount  Park, 
in  the  presence  of  the  monument.] 

If  one  were  asked  what  most  peculiarly  distinguishes 
Anglo-Saxon  civilization,  he  must  answer :  individual  and 


124  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

popular  achievement  as  connected  with  civil  and  religious 
liberty.     The  Magna  Charta,  the  Declaration  of  Independ 
ence,  the  Proclamation  of  Emancipation,  are  not  only  muni 
ments  of  our  freedom,  but  in  a  peculiar  sense  monuments, 
which  at  once  attest  and  commemorate  the  struggles,  the 
sacrifices,  and  the  triumphs  made  and  achieved  in  its  be 
half.     Many  triumphs  of  free  thought  as  regards  the  enun 
ciation  of  new  theologic  and  ecclesiastical  truth  distinguish 
the  history  of  the  Church.     In  most  instances  these  have 
cost  protracted  struggle  as  well  as  large  sacrifice.     Asso 
ciated  with  the  triumphs  of  freedom  in  the  Church  or  State, 
there  are  names  of  distinguished  men  who,  under  Provi 
dence,  have  been  permitted  to  stimulate,  direct,  define,  and 
record  public  feeling  and  judgment  with  regard  thereto,  as 
well  as  to  include  and  enforce  lessons  of  struggle  and  sac 
rifice  indispensable   to  earnest    and  protracted  endeavor. 
Not  more  in  the  jubilant  spirit  inspired  by  the  triumphs, 
than  the  docile,  earnest  one  impressed  by  the  teachings  of 
the  struggles  and   sacrifices  indicated,  we  meet  to-day  to 
honor  the  name  and  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  a  repre 
sentative  Christian  hero  in  the  erection  of  this  monument. 
We  cannot  be  unmindful  of  the  great  event  which  renders 
this  day  memorable ;  nor  may  we  pass  without  making  spe 
cial  and  definite  allusion  to  it.     Fourteen  years  ago,  one 
year  six  months  eighteen  days  after  his  inauguration  as 
President  of  the  United  States,  Abraham  Lincoln  issued  his 
preliminary  proclamation   of  emancipation.      It   contains 
among  others  these  words  : 

"  That  on  the  first  day  of  January,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord 
one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty -three,  all  persons  held 
as  slaves  within  any  State,  or  designated  part  of  a  State,  the 
people  whereof  shall  then  be  in  rebellion  against  the  United 
States,  shall  be  thenceforward  and  forever  free;  and  the 
Executive  Government  of  the  United  States,  including  the 


f 

BISHOP  BICHAED  ALLEN.  125 

military  and  naval  authorities  thereof,  will  recognize  and 
maintain  the  freedom  of  such  persons,  and  will  do  no  act  or 
acts  to  repress  such  persons,  or  any  of  them,  in  any  efforts 
they  may  make  for  their  actual  freedom. 

"  That  the  Executive  will,  on  the  first  day  of  January 
aforesaid,  by  proclamation,  designate  the  States  and  parts 
of  States,  if  any,  in  which  the  people  thereof,  respectively, 
shall  then  be  in  rebellion  against  the  United  States ;  and  the 
fact  that  any  State,  or  the  people  thereof,  shall  on  that  day 
be  in  good  faith  represented  in  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  by  members  chosen  thereto  at  elections  wherein  a 
majority  of  the  qualified  voters  of  the  State  shall  have  par 
ticipated,  shall,  in  the  absence  of  strong  countervailing  testi 
mony,  be  deemed  conclusive  evidence  that  such  State,  and 
the  people  thereof,  are  not  then  in  rebellion  against  the 
United  States." 

One  hundred  days  had  elapsed  when,  on  the  first  day  of 
January,  1863,  the  President  issued,  as  promised,  his  proc 
lamation  designating  the  States  and  parts  of  States  then  in 
rebellion,  and  wherein  "all  slaves  were  declared  to  be  free." 
In  this  proclamation  occur  these  famous  passages  : 

"  Now,  therefore,  I,  Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of  the 
United  States,  by  virtue  of  the  power  in  me  vested  as  com- 
mander-in-chief  of  the  army  and  navy  of  the  United  States, 
in  time  of  actual  armed  rebellion  against  the  authority  and 
Government  of  the  United  States,  and  as  a  fit  and  necessary 
war  measure  for  suppressing  said  rebellion,  do,  on  this  first 
day  of  January,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  sixty-three,  and  in  accordance  with  my  purpose 
so  to  do,  publicly  proclaimed  for  the  fall  period  of  one  hun 
dred  days  from  the  day  first  above  mentioned,  order  and 
designate,  as  the  States  and  parts  of  States  wherein  the 
people  thereof  respectively  are  this  day  in  rebellion  against 
the  United  States,  the  following,  to  wit :  Arkansas,  Texas, 
Louisiana,  (except  the  parishes  of  St.  Bernard,  Plaquemines, 
Jefferson,  St.  John,  St.  Charles,  St.  James,  Ascension,  As 
sumption,  Terre  Bonne,  Lafourche,  Ste.  Marie,  St.  Martin, 
and  Orleans,  including  the  city  of  New  Orleans,)  Mississippi, 


126  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

Alabama,  Florida,  Georgia,  South  Carolina,  North  Carolina, 
and  Virginia,  except  the  forty-eight  counties  designated  as 
West  Virginia,  and  also  the  counties  of  Berkeley,  Accomac, 
Northampton,  Elizabeth  City,  York,  Princess  Ann,  and  Nor 
folk,  (including  the  cities  of  Norfolk  and  Portsmouth,)  and 
which  excepted  parts  are  for  the  present  left  precisely  as  if 
this  proclamation  were  not  issued.  And  by  virtue  of  the 
power  and  for  the  purposes  aforesaid,  I  do  order  and  declare 
that  all  persons  held  as  slaves  within  said  designated  States 
or  parts  of  States  are,  and  henceforward  shall  be,  free;  and 
that  the  Executive  Government  of  the  United  States,  includ 
ing  the  military  and  naval  authorities  thereof,  will  recognize 
and  maintain  the  freedom  of  said  persons.  And  upon  this 
act,  sincerely  believed  to  be 'an  act  of  justice,  warranted  by 
the  Constitution  upon  military  necessity,  I  invoke  the  con 
siderate  judgment  of  mankind  and  the  gracious  faror  of 
Almighty  God." 

Although  two  years  and   a  half  of  sanguinary  struggle 
intervened  before  our  emancipation  as  a  war  measure  was 
determined  by  the  victory  of  our  loyal  army,  we  very  prop 
erly  regard  the  22d  day  of  September,  1862,  as  the  dawn  of 
that  glad  day  of  freedom  whose  full-orbed  sun  poured  its 
resplendent  rays,  in  noon-tide  glory,  upon  our  enfranchised 
millions,  when  the  thirteenth  amendment  of  the  Constitution 
was  ratified,  and  our  emancipation  established  in  the  organic 
law  of  the  nation.     Esto  perpetua !     Every  consideration  of 
fitness,  whether  we  have  regard  to  the  person  whom  we 
would  honor,  or  the  event  which  marks  it,  induces  us  to  select 
this  day  before  all  others  of  the  year  for  these  exercises. 
Here  we  bring,  in  our  thoughts,  the 'emancipator  of  our  race 
face  to  face  with  one  of  that  race,  who,  by  a  bold  and  fearless 
self-assertion,  demonstrated  its  moral  power — its  fitness  for 
freedom  as  shown  in  independent,  manly  thought,  endeavor, 
and  achievement.  Here  we  associate  the  name  of  Allen  with 
that  of  Lincoln,  whose'act  in  striking  the  shackles  from  the 


BISHOP  RICHAKD  ALLEN.  127 

limbs  of  four  millions  of  slaves  is  largely  justified  by  the 
conduct  of  one  who  is  indeed  a  type  and  representative  of 
his  race. 

This  day's  enterprise,  however,  is  new.  For  the  first  time 
in  its  history,  certainly  for  the  first  time  in  this  country,  our 
race  erects  a  monument  to  the  memory  of  one  of  its  own 
number.  Two  hundred  and  forty -five  years  of  enslavement 
ill  prepares  our  people  for  incurring  the  outlay  connected 
with  such  work,  while  our  leading  men  have  been  denied 
those  opportunities  and  responsibilities  which,  developing 
character  and  purpose,  make  large  personal  achievement  and 
personal  distinction  possible.  The  erection  of  monuments* 
like  the  purchase  of  pictures  and  statuary,  implies  not  only 
the  cultivation  of  taste,  but  the  possession  of  means  beyond 
the  pressure  of  daily  want.  It  implies  more  ;  the  due  appre 
ciation  of  such  special  achievement,  tending  to  advance  the 
good  of  society,  in  some  important  and  exalted  sense,  with 
which  the  name  of  the  person,  whose  services  are  commemo 
rated,  is  associated  and  identified. 

We  have  neither  failed  in  the  past  ten  years  of  our  free 
dom  to  become  conversant  with  our  more  prominent  men,  to 
admire  their  moral  heroism  in  many  cases,  their  manly  con 
duct  in  the  midst  of  the  most  discouraging  circumstances, 
nor  to  economize  our  means  in  such  manner  as  to  be  able  to 
make  this  offering  in  honor  of  high  personal  worth.  No 
apology  may  be  justly  asked  of  us  for  what  we  now  do,  nor 
do  we  volunteer  such.  All  nations,  all  races  of  men  delight 
to  honor  their  mighty  dead,  and  we  are  not,  and  would  not 
be,  in  our  feelings  or  acts  an  exception  to  this  rule. 

Richard  Allen  was  born  in  Philadelphia,  on  the  14th  day 
of  February,  1760,  sixteen  years  before  the  Declaration  of 
American  Independence.  In  his  early  childhood  he  was  car 
ried  to  the  State  of  Delaware,  where  he  was  held  a  slave  until 


128  FEEEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

he  reached  his  majority,  or  thereabout,  when  at  the  sugges 
tion  of  his  owner  he  bought  himself,  paying  sixty  pounds  of 
gold  and  silver.  Of  his  owner  he  says  :  "  He  was  what  the 
world  calls  a  good  masfer.  He  was  more  like  a  father  to  his 
slaves  than  anything  else.  He  was  a  very  tender,  humane 
man."  Of  his  own  condition  as  a  slave  he  says :  "  I  had  it 
often  impressed  upon  my  mind  that  I  should  one  day  enjoy 
my  freedom,  for  slavery  is  a  bitter  pill,  notwithstanding  we 
had  a  good  master.  But  when  we  would  think  that  our  day's 
work  was  never  done,  that  after  our  master's  death  we  were 
liable  to  be  sold  to  the  highest  bidder,  as  he  was  much  in  debt, 
my  troubles  were  increased,  and  I  was  often  brought  to  weep 
between  the  porch  and  altar.  But  I  have  reason  to  bless  my 
dear  Lord  that  a  door  was  opened  unexpectedly  for  me  to  buy 
my  time  and  enjoy  my  liberty." 

Allen,  though  born  to  the  condition  and  lot  of  a  slave,  was 
not  insensible  to  those  things  which  pertain  to  freedom  and 
equal  rights.  Sensitive  enough  by  nature  to  the  claims  of 
justice  and  humanity,  as  he  grew  in  years,  enlarging  and  im 
proving  his  knowledge,  his  mind  and  soul  were  aroused  and 
moved  by  the  stirring  deeds  and  matchless  utterances  of  the 
revolutionary  period  through  which  he  lived.  Under  the 
influence  of  the  great  thoughts,  the  lofty  aspirations,  and  the 
noble  purposes,  which  produced  the  social  commotions  of  his 
time  and  made  the  Declaration  of  Independence  a  moral  pos 
sibility,  he  pleaded  the  cause  of  the  enslaved  in  words  which 
impressed  and  moved  at  once  the  slave  and  the  slaveholder, 
for  he  addressed  each.  He  opens  and  concludes  his  address 
to  the  latter  in  these  truthful  and  forcible  words : 

"The  judicious  part  of  mankind  will  think  it  unreason- 
able  that  a  superior  good  conduct  is  looked  for  from  our 
race  by  those  who  stigmatize  us  as  men  whose  baseness  is 
incurable,  and  may,  therefore,  be  held  in  a  state  of  send- 


BISHOP  RICHARD  ALLEN.  129 

1,ude  that  a  merciful  man  would  not  doom  a  beast  to;  yet 
you  try  what  you  can  to  prevent  our  rising  from  a  state  of 
barbarism  you  represent  us  to  be  in ;  but  we  can  tell  you 
from  a  degree  of  experience  that  a  black  man,  although 
reduced  to  the  most  abject  state  human  nature  is  capa 
ble  of,  short  of  real  madness,  can  think,  reflect,  and  feel 
injuries,  although  it  may  not  be  with  the  same  degree  of 
.keen  resentment  and  revenge  that  you  who  have  been,  and 
are,  our  oppressors  would  manifest  if  reduced  to  the  piti 
able  condition  of  a  slave.  We  believe  if  you  would  try  the 
experiment  of  taking  a  few  black  children,  and  cultivate 
their  minds  with  the  same  care,  and  let  them  have  the  same 
prospect  in  view  as  to  living  in  the  world  as  you  would  wish 
for  your  own  children,  you  would  find  upon  the  trial  they 
were  not  inferior  in  mental  endowments.  I  do  not  wish  to 
make  you  angry,  but  to  excite  your  attention,  to  consider 
how  hateful  slavery  is  in  the  sight  of  that  God  who  hath 
destroyed  kings  and  princes  for  their  oppression  of  the  poor 
'slaves.  Pharaoh  and  his  princes,  with  the  posterity  of 
King  Saul,  were  destroyed  by  the  Protector  and  Avenger 
of  slaves.  Would  you  not  "suppose  the  Israelites  to  be 
utterly  unfit  for  freedom,  and  that  it  was  impossible  for 
them  to  obtain  any  degree  of  excellence  ?  Their  history 
shows  how  slavery  had  debased  their  spirits.  Men  must 
be  wilfully  blind  and  extremely  partial  that  cannot  see  the 
contrary  effects  of  liberty  and  slavery  upon  the  mind  of 
man;  I  truly  confess' the  vile  habits  often  acquired  in  a 
state  of  servitude  are  not  easily  thrown  off;  the  example  of 
the  Israelites  shows  how,  with  all  that  Moses  could  do  to  re 
claim  them  from  it,  they  still  continued  in  their  habits  more 
or  less,  and  why  will  you  look  for  better  from  us  ?  Why 
will  you  look  for  grapes  from  thorns,  or  figs  from  thistles  ? 
It  is  in  our  posterity  enjoying  the  same  privileges  with  your 
own  that  you  ought  to  look  for  better  things.  When  you 
are  pleaded  with,  do  not  you  reply  as  Pharaoh  did,  'Where 
fore  do  ye,  Moses  and  Aaron,  let  the  people  from  their  work  ? 
Behold,  the  people  of  the  land  now  are  many,  and  you  make 
them  rest  from  their  burdens.'  We  wish  you  to  consider 
that  God  himself  was  the  first  pleader  of  the  slaves." 


130  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

Concluding,  he  says :  "  Will  you,  because  you  have  re 
duced  us  to  the  unhappy  condition  our  color  is  in,  plead 
our  incapacity  for  freedom  and  our  contented  condition 
under  oppression  as  a  sufficient  cause  for  keeping  us  under 
the  grievous  yoke?  I  have  shown  the  cause;  I  will  also  show 
why  they  appear  contented  as  they  can  in  your  sight,  but 
the  dreadful  insurrections  they  have  made  when  opportunity 
afforded  are  enough  to  convince  a  reasonable  man  that  great 
uneasiness  and  not  contentment  is  the  inhabitant  of  their 
hearts.  God  himself  hath  pleaded  their  cause.  He  hath  from 
time  to  time  raised  up  instruments  for  that  purpose,  some- 
times  mean  and  contemptible  in  your  sight.  At  other  times 
He  hath  used  such  as  it  hath  pleased  Him,  with  whom  you 
have  not  thought  it  beneath  your  dignity  to  contend.  They 
have  been  convinced  of  their  error,  condemned  their  former 
conduct,  and  become  zealous  advocates  for  the  cause  of  those 
whom  you  will  not  suffer  to  plead  for  themselves." 

His  address  to  the  former  (the  slave)  is  full  of  wise 
Christian  sentiment  and  counsel.  It  is  brief,  and  I  present 
it  in  full.  He  says :  "  Feeling  an  engagement  of  mind  for 
your  welfare,  I  address  you  with  an  affectionate  sympathy, 
having  been  a  slave  and  as  desirous  of  freedom  as  any  of  you  ; 
yet  the  bands  of  bondage  were  so  strong  that  no  way  ap 
peared  for  my  release.  Yet  at  times  a  hope  arose  in  my 
heart  that  a  way  would  open  for  it ;  and  when  my  mind  was 
mercifully  visited  with  the  feeling  of  the  love  of  God,  then 
these  hopes  increased,  and  a  confidence  arose  that  He  would 
make  way  for  my  enlargement ;  and  as  a  patient  waiting  was 
necessary,  I  was  sometimes  favored  with  it ;  at  other  times  I 
was  very  impatient.  Then  the  prospect  of  liberty  almost  van 
ished  away,  and  I  was  in  darkness  and  perplexity.  I  mention 
my  experience  to  you,  that  your  hearts  may  not  sink  at  the 
discouraging  prospects  you  may  have,  and  that  you  may 


BISHOP  RICHARD  ALLEN.  131 

put  your  trust  in  God,  who  sees  your  condition  ;  and  as  a 
merciful  father  pitieth  his  children,  so  doth  God  pity 
them  that  love  Him ;  and  as  your  hearts  are  inclined  to 
serve  God  you  will  feel  an  affectionate  regard  toward  your 
masters  and  mistresses,  so  called,  and  the  whole  family  in 
which  you  live.  This  will  be  seen  by  them,  and  tend  to  pro 
mote  your  liberty  especially  with  such  as  have  feeling  masters. 
And  if  they  are  otherwise,  you  wiil  have  the  favor  and  love 
of  God  dwelling  in  your  hearts,  which  you  will  value  more 
than  anything  else ;  whi'ch  will  be  a  consolation  in  the  worst 
condition  you  can  be  in,  and  no  master  can  deprive  you  of  it; 
and  as  life  is  short  and  uncertain,  and  the  chief  end  ot  our 
having  a  being  in  this  world  is  to  be  prepared  for  a  better,  I 
wish  you  to  think  of  this  more  than  anything  else  ;  then  ypu 
will  have  a  view  of  that  freedom  which  the  sons  of  God  en 
joy  ;  and  if  the  troubles  of  your  condition  end  with  your  lives 
you  will  be  admitted  to  the  freedom  which  God  hath  prepared 
for  those  of  all  colors  that  love  him.  Here  the  power  of  the 
most  cruel  masjter  ends,  and  all  sorrow  and  tears  are  wiped 
away.  To  you  who  are  favored  with  freedom,  let  your  conduct 
manifest  your  gratitude  toward  the  compassionate  masters  who 
have  set  you  free;  and  let  no  rancor  or  ill-will  lodge  in  your 
breast  for  any  bad  treatment  you  may  have  received  from 
any.  If  you  do,  you  transgress  against  God,  who  will  not 
hold  you  guiltless.  He  would  not  suffer  it  even  in  his  be 
loved  people  Israel,  and  do  you  think  he  will  allow  it  unto 
us?  Many  of  the  white  people  have  been  instruments  in  the 
hands  of  God  for  our  good ;  even  such  as  have  held  us  in  cap 
tivity  are  now  pleading  our  cause  with  earnestness  and  zeal, 
and  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  too  many  think  more  of  the  evil 
than  of  the  good  they  have  received,  and  instead  of  taking 
the  advice  of  their  friends  turn  from  it  with  indifference. 
Much  depends  upon  us  for  the  help  of  our  color — more  than 


132  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 


many  are  aware.  If  we  are  lazy  and  idle,  the  enemies  of 
freedom  plead  it  as  a  cause  why  we  ought  not  to  be  free,  and 
say  we  are  better  in  a  state  of  servitude,  and  that  giving  us' 
our  liberty  would  be  an  injury  to  us;  and  by  such  conduct 
we  strengthen  the  bonds  of  oppression,  and  keep  many  in 
bondage  who  are  more  worthy  than  ourselves.  I  entreat  you 
to  consider  the  obligations  we  lie  under  to  help  forward  the 
cause  of  freedom.  We  who  know  how  bitter  the  cup  is  of 
which  the  slave  hath  to  drink,  O  how  ought  we  to  feel  for 
those  who  yet  remain  in  bondage.  Will  even  our  friends 
excuse — will  God  pardon  us  for  the  part  we  act  in  making 
strong  the  hands  of  the  enemies  of  our  color  ?" 

His  gratitude  to  those  who,  by  word  or  deed,  sought  the 
deliverance  and  elevation  of  his  race  is  beautifully  expressed 
in  "  a  short  address  to  the  friends  of  him  who  hath  no  helper." 
"  I  feel,"  he  says,  "  an  inexpressible  gratitude  towards  you 
who  have  engaged  in  the  cause  of  the  African  race.  You 
have  wrought  a  deliverance  for]many  from  more  than  Egyptian 
bondage ;  your  labors  are  unremltted  for  their  complete  re 
demption  from  the  cruel  subjection  they  are  in.  You  feel 
our  affliction ;  you  sympathize  with  us  in  our  heart-rending 
distress,  when  the  husband  is  separated  from  the  wife  and 
the  parents  from  the  children,  who  are  never  more  to  meet 
in  this  world.  The  tear  of  sensibility  trickl«s  from  your  eye 
to  see  the  sufferings  that  keep  us  from  increasing.  Your 
righteous  indignation  is  aroused  at  the  means  taken  to  supply 
the  place  of  the  murdered  babe.  You  see  our  race  more 
effectually  destroyed  than  was  in  Pharaoh's  power  to  effect 
upon  Israel's  sons ;  you  blow  the  trumpet  against  the  mighty 
evil ;  you  make  the  tyrants  tremble ;  you  strive  to  raise  the 
slave  to  the  dignity  of  a  man ;  you  take  our  children  by  the 
hand  to  lead  them  in  the  path  of  virtue  by  your  care  of  our 
education ;  you  are  not  afraid  to  call  the  most  abject  of  our 


BISHOP  BICHABD  ALLEN.  135 

race  brethren,  children  of  one  Father,  who  hath  made  of  one 
blood  all  the  nations  of  the  earth.  You  ask  for  this,  nothing 
for  yourselves,  nothing  but  what  is  worthy  the  cause  you  are 
engaged  in;  nothing  but  that  we  would  be  friends  to  our 
selves,  and  not  strengthen  the  bands  of  oppression  by  an 
evil  conduct  when  led  out  of  the  house  of  bondage.  May 
He  who  hath  arisen  to  plead  our  cause,  and  engaged  you  as 
volunteers  in  the  service,  add  to  your  numbers  until  the 
princes  shall  come  forth  from  Egypt,  and  Ethiopia  shall 
stretch  out  her  hands  unto  God." 

While  such  utterances  show  the  spirit  of  the  man,  his 
anxiety  for  the  freedom  and  elevation  of  his  race,  his  dis 
position  and  purpose  to  labor  to  accomplish  such  end,  the 
high  moral  and  religious  ground  upon  which  he  made 
his  demand,  the  Christian  earnestness  which  gave  life  to 
his  faith  and  sustained  him  in  his  labors  and  sacrifices,  they 
distinguish  him  as  an  early  and  prominent  laborer  in  the 
cause  of  our  emancipation.  In  this  work  indeed  he  seems 
not  to  have  built  upon  another's  foundation,  and  we  do  no- 
man  injustice  by  writing  high  up  towards  the  very  top  of 
the  list,  among  the  names  of  the  early  abolition  worthies  of 
the  Revolutionary  period  of  our  country,  the  name  of  Rich 
ard  Allen.  Herein  he  certainly  stands  a  representative 
character. 

If  a  sad  experience  of  slave  life,  a  close  identification  of 
oppression  and  suffering  with  the  slave,  gave  edge  to  Allen's 
advocacy  of  impartial  freedom,  his  treatment  by  his  Chris 
tian  brethren  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  a  member 
of  which  he  became  upon  his  conversion,  must  have  inten 
sified  his  purpose,  as  he  left  that  church  to  build  one  where 
freedom  should  find  a  home  and  beneath  whose  fostering 
and  protecting  care  free  principles  should  grow  and  expand 
in  the  full  amplitude  of  their  nature.  To  describe  the  treat- 


134  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

ment  which  he  and  his  associates  received  I  adopt  his  own 
language.  He  says  :  "A  number  of  us  usually  attended  St. 
George's  Church,  in  Fourth  street,  in  Philadelphia,  and  when 
the  colored  people  began  to  get  numerous  in  attending  the 
church,  they  moved  us  from  the  seats  we  usually  sat  on  and 
placed  us  around  the  wall,  and  one  Sabbath  morning  we 
went  to  church,  and  the  sexton  stood  at  the  door  and  told 
us  to  go  in  the  gallery.  He  told  us  to  go  and  we  would  see 
where  to  sit.  We  expected  to  take  the  seats  over  the  ones 
we  formerly  occupied  below,  not  knowing  any  better.  We 
took  those  seats.  Meeting  had  begun  and  they  were  nearly 
done  singing,  and  just  as  we  got  to  the  seats  the  elder  said, 
'  Let  us  pray.'  We  had  not  been  long  upon  our  knees  be 
fore  I  heard  considerable  scuffling  and  low  talking.  I  raised 

my  head  up  and  saw  one  of  the  trustees,  H M — , 

having  hold  of  Rev.  Absalom  H.  Jones,  pulling  him  up  off 
his  knees  and  saying,  '  You  must  get  up ;  you  must  not  kneel 
here.'  Mr.  Jones  replied,  '  Wait  until  prayer  is  over.'  Mr. 

H M said,  '  No ;  you  must  get  up  now  or  I  will 

call  for  aid  and  force  you  away.'  Mr.  Jones  said,  « Wait 
until  prayer  is  over,  and  I  will  get  up  and  trouble  yon  no 
more.'  With  that  he  beckoned  to  one  of  the  other  trustees, 

L S ,  to  come  to  his  assistance.     He  came  and 

went  to  William  White  to  pull  him  up.  By  that  time  prayer 
was  over,  and  we  all  went  out  of  the  church  in  a  body,  and 
they  were  no  more  plagued  with  us  in  the  church.  This 
raised  a  great  excitement  and  inquiry  among  the  citizens, 
insomuch  that  I  believe  they  were  ashamed  of  their  conduct. 
But  my  dear  Lord  was  with  us,  and  we  were  filled  with  fresh 
vigor  to  get  a  house  erected  to  worship  God  in." 

The  conduct  of  these  church  officers  we  condemn  with  our 
whole  being.  The  conduct  of  Allen  and  his  associates  we 
applaud  as  natural,  manly,  and  noble.  As  we  have  read 


BISHOP  RICHARD  ALLEN.  135 

the  history  of  this  transaction,  it  has  seemed  very  much  as  if 
the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was,  in  an  impor 
tant  and  special  sense,  the  organized  Christian  protest  of  the 
colored  American  against  unjust,  inhuman,  and  cruel  com- 
plexional  discriminations,  and  the  illiberal  and  unchristian 
treatment  founded  thereon,  accorded  those  against  whom 
such  discriminations  are  made.  Certainly  the  founder  of 
the  church,  its  foremost  minister  for  many  years,  and  its  first 
bishop,  did  not  fail  to  leave  posterity  the  example  of  wise 
Christian  demeanor  in  this  matter.  In  meeting  and  over 
coming  the  opposition  made  to  the  establishment  of  the  new 
church,  its  founder  acted  with  great  wisdom  and  sagacity. 
Occupying  our  position,  standing  at  the  point  where,  after 
sixty  years  have  elapsed  since  its  organization,  we  may  look 
upon  the  results  already  accomplished  through  its  agency; 
may  estimate  the  value  of  its  property,  now  reaching  millions 
of  dollars;  the  number  of  its  members,  counted  by  hundreds 
of  thousands ;  the  number  of  its  ministers,  found  in  a  thou 
sand  pulpits  and  itinerating  every  part  of  the  country  ;  the 
number  of  its  bishops,  no  longer  one,  but  six,  distinguished 
largely  as  well  for  their  learning  as  their  piety,  may  esti 
mate  in  some  suitable  manner  its  achievements  in  behalf  of 
popular  education,  virtue  and  religion.  We  can,  and  do, 
bear  cheerful  testimony  to  the  correctness  of  this  statement. 
These  are  all  valuable  results,  and  they  cannot  be  too  highly 
prized. 

There  is  another  result  secured  in  the  establishment  of  this 
church,  however,  which  deserves  special  mention.  At  the 
time  of  its  organization  one  great  want,  perhaps  the  greatest 
want,  of  the  colored  American  was  opportunity  to  be  himself, 
to  think  his  own  thought,  express  his  own  conviction,  make 
his  own  utterance,  test  his  own  powers,  cultivate  self-reliance, 
and  thus,  in  the  exercise  of  the  faculties  of  his  own  soul,  trust 


136  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

and  achieve.  The  sense  of  responsibility  is  indispensable  ta 
this  end,  and  where  there  is  no  pressure  of  obligation  con 
nected  with  duty  and  opportunity  this  end  is  never  reached. 
The  moral  law  which  binds  here  is  fixed  even  more  unalter 
ably  than  that  of  the  Medes  and  Persians.  The  opportu 
nity,  the  responsibility,  and  the  obligation  of  which  I  speak, 
were  the  gifts,  rare  and  precious,  essential  to  individual  as 
well  as  national  development  and  strength,  furnished  in  this 
new  ecclesiastical  organization.  And  were  defence  needed 
for  Allen's  course  in  leaving  one  and  founding  another  Meth 
odist  Church,  we  find  it  especially  in  the  consideration  here 
presented.  As  the  founder  of  this  church  Allen  proved 
himself  the  benefactor  of  his  race. 

The  life  of  Richard  Allen,  as  a  minister  and  bishop,  is 
full  of  interest,  and  may  be  studied  by  the  Christian  scholar 
with  large  profit.  Without  scholarly  attainment  or  culture, 
relying,  as  far  as  learning  went,  upon  the  simpler  rudiments 
of  knowledge,  he  trusted  his  native  sense,  illuminated  by 
the  Spirit  which  never  failed  him,  even  in  the  most  trying 
hour.  The  disposition  which  he  cultivated  was  that  of  the 
genuine  Christian.  He  labored,  he  preached,  he  presided  in 
his  conference  with  that  judicious,  considerate,  and  cul 
tured  demeanor  which,  while  it  adds  a  charm  to  Christian 
character  at  all  times,  is  the  fittest  adornment  of  exalted 
and  dignified  position.  He  always  entertained  an  intelli 
gent  appreciation  of  education,  and  favored  its  thorough 
and  general  spread  among  the  people.  As  the  people  be 
came  educated,  as  they  cultivated  virtue  and  religion,  he 
hoped  and  believed  that  the  colored  American,  by  display 
ing  his  capabilities  and  powers,  would  command  the  respect 
of  all  fair-minded  persons.  Possessing  solid,  rather  than 
brilliant  and  dazzling  powers  of  mind,  and  hence  properly 
classed  among  the  thinkers  of  logical,  mental  bias,  Bishop 


BISHOP  EIGHARD  ALLEN.  137 

Allen  was,  nevertheless,  a  pulpit  orator,  whose  style  was 
marked  by  a  tender  and  lively  sensibility,  a  vigorous  and 
vivid  imagination,  a  deep  and  moving  pathos.  The  power 
of  his  eloquence  was  demonstrated  in  the  effect  produced 
upon  the  multitudes  moved  and  converted  through  his 
preaching  before  and  after  his  election  to  the  bishopric. 
Sometime  during  the  year  1784  he  preached  for  several 
weeks  in  Radnor.  His  congregation  was  composed  mainly 
of  white  persons ;  few  colored  people  lived  in  the  neighbor 
hood.  In  connection  with  his  labors  here  this  beautiful 
testimony  is  borne  :  "  Some  said  :  'This  man  must  be  a  man 
of  God ;  we  never  heard  such  preaching  before.'  " 

The  secret  of  his  power  is  revealed  in  the  words,  "This 
man  must  be  a  man  of  God."  He  was  strong  in  his  earnest 
and  abiding  faith  in  his  Heavenly  Father,  upon  whose  abil 
ity  and  purpose  to  fulfill  his  promises  he  relied  with  the 
confidence  of  a  child.  His  sermons,  his  addresses,  all  his 
writings  confirm  this  opinion. 

A  thorough  and  careful  study  of  the  character  of  Bishop 
Allen  will  convince  us  that  he  possessed  all  the  qualities  of 
mind  which  distinguish  real  greatness.  He  was  intelligent, 
docile,  sagacious,  judicious,  earnest,  patient,  industrious, 
self-reliant  and  yet  self-sacrificing,  fearless,  humane,  con 
scientious  and  just,  while  he  was  always  tenacious  of  his 
own  convictions  and  opinions.  Dr.  Daniel  A.  Payne,  hon 
ored  this  day  in  unveiling  his  monument,  speaking  of 
Bishop  Allen,  presents  his  estimate  of  him  in  the  following 
words : 

'•Though  not  learned,  he  was  intelligent ;  though  not  bril 
liant,  he  was  solid ;  a  man  of  correct  judgment,  a  far-sighted 
churchman,  he  was  modest  without  timidity,  and  brave 
without  rashness.  A  lover  of  liberty,  civil  and  religious, 
he  became  its  hero,  and  felt  himself  highly  honored  and 
i 


138  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

sincerely  happy  in  doing  and  suffering  to  secure  the  bless 
ings  of  ecclesiastical  liberty  for  his  despised  and  insulted 
race.  Black  men,  the  world  over,  will  yet  do  homage  to 
his  noble  character,  and  white  men,  too,  when,  they  shall  have 
learned  to  look  upon  men  *  *  *  from  the  summit  of 
Calvary." 

This  day's  proceedings  make  good,  in  some  degree,  the 
prophecy  of  these  last  words.  Possessing  such  qualities  of 
character,  a  minister  of  excellent  name  and  influence,  the 
founder  of  a  great  and  growing  church,  its  first  bishop,  in- 
augurating  and  shaping  its  discipline  and  government,  his 
name  may  be  enrolled,  without  disparagement  to  any  con 
cerned,  in  close  association  with  those  of  Wesley,  the  foun 
der  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church ;  Asbury,  the  first 
bishop  of  that  church,  and  Whitfield,  the  evangelist,  men 
whose  eloquence  and  labors  mankind  can  never  forget  nor 
fail  to  appreciate. 

Of  the  integrity  and  habits  of  industry  cultivated  by 
Kichard  Allen  special  mention  must  be  made  ;  otherwise,  one 
fails  to  do  him  justice.  He  was  a  man  of  vigorous  native  integ 
rity,  and  in  his  pursuit,  even  as  a  slave,  of  an  honorable  and 
conscientious  course  of  life,  he  stimulated  and  strengthened 
this  noble  trait  of  character.  He  was  careful  of  his  good 
name,  and  was  wont  to  guard  it  with  vigor  and  decision.  In 
his  "  Narrative  "  of  the  conduct  of  the  colored  people  of 
Philadelphia,  who  in  1793  did  so  much  to  assist  the  whites 
during  a  terrible  malady  which  then  prevailed,  he  not  only 
showed  himself  able  in  defending  his  race  against  unjust  and 
false  censure,  but  demonstrated  a  deep  appreciation  of  his 
own  uprightness.  In  this  extremity  of  the  people  he  was 
behind  no  one  in  arduous  and  fatiguing  labors,  nursing  the 
sick,  caring  for  and  burying  the  dead.  And  this  he  did  at 
no  small  pecuniary  lo.-s  to  himself.  Of  this  he  makes  no  com-ii 
plaint.  He  complains  only  of  partial  and  censorious  treatment 


BISHOP  RICHARD  ALLEN.  139 

of  the  blacks,  who  were  charged  with  "having  taken  adran- 
tage  of  the  distressed  situation  of  the  people;"  arid  in  the 
most  forcible  manner,  by  inevitable  inference,  presents  in  a 
single  question  the  rule  which  should  govern  us  in  our  deal 
ings  with  all  clafeses.  Admitting  that  some  of  the  blacks 
may  have  dealt  in  an  improper  way  with  the  sick  and  dis 
tressed,  but  asserting  that  many  whites  were  also  guilty,  he 
asks :  "  Is  it  a  greater  crime  for  a  black  to  pilfer  than  for  a 
white  to  privateer?" 

He  was  an  industrious  man.  His  habits  of  industry  had 
been  contracted  in  slavery ;  and  after  -he  had  entered  upon 
the  labors  of  the  ministry,  but  before  the  African  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  had  been  organized,  his  necessities  were 
frequently  such  that  he  had  to  intermit  those  labors  by  other 
of  a  manual  sort  to  supply  hi*  necessary  wants. 

In  speaking  of  his  custom  in  this  regard  he  says:  "My 
usual  method  was,  when  I  would  get  bare  of  clothes,  to  stop 
traveling  and  go  to  work,  so  that  no  man  could  say  I  was 
chargeable  to  the  Connexion.  My  hands  administered  to  my 
necessities."  The  cultivation  of  such  habits  of  industry,  to 
gether  with  a  prudent  economy,  distinguished  his  entire  life, 
and  enabled  him,  after  meeting  those  demands  which  are  in 
separable  from  our  domestic  relations  and  educating  his  chil 
dren,  to  leave  to  his  family  a  considerable  estate.  A  gener 
ous  and  worthy  testimony  is  borne  to  Richard  Allen  as  a 
husband  and  a  father,  and  in  such  relations  his  life  and  con 
duct  furnish  valuable  and  praiseworthy  examples. 

In  concluding,  I  may  congratulate  yon,  my  friends,  upon 
what  we  here  witness.  This  occurrence  is  alike  honorable  to 
us  and  to  him  whose  virtues  we  celebrate.  We  are  permit 
ted,  in  this  centennial  year  of  the  nation,  on  this  memorable 
day  of  our  emancipation,  in  this  beautiful  and  consecrated 
spot,  to  inaugurate  and  dedicate  a  monument  to  one  whose 


140  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

name  and  deeds  we  seek  to  honor  and  perpetuate.  The  char 
acter  of  Richard  Allen  is  now  historical  and  representative. 
In  his  deeds,  no  less  than  his  name  and  lineage,  the  colored 
American  of  every  class  must  feel  a  deep  interest,  as  well 
as  a  special  and  just  pride.  His  race,  his  enslavement,  his 
struggles,  endear  him  to  us ;  but  his  deeds,  his  achievements 
excite  and  command  the  highest  admiration  and  praise  of 
our  souls.  This  day  we  inscribe  hia  name  upon  yon  marble 
shaft,  and,  while  we  treasure  it  in  our  affections,  commit  it 
to  the  sacred  keeping  of  posterity. 


EQUALITY  BEFORE  THE  LAW. 


THE  TREATMENT  OF  THE  AMERICAN  MAN  OF 
COLOR  BEFORE  AND  SINCE  THE  ADOPTION  OF 
THE  THIRTEENTH  AMENDMENT.* 


[The  Oberlin  Weekly  News  thus  describes  the  reception  of  the  following 
oration:  Prof.  Langs'on  held  the  unbroken  attention  of  his  audience  to  the 
close.  He  was  frequently  interrupted  by  applause,  and  when  he  concluded, 
the  expressions  of  approval  were  loud  and  protracted.  Oberlin  has  long  re 
garded  him  with  special  affection  and  re?pect,  and  has  watched  his  gradual 
but  steady  advancement  in  position  and  fame  with  feelings  of  pride  an,d  sat 
isfaction.  He  has  risen  by  sheer  ability  and  work  to  the  position  he  now  occu 
pies..  Standing,  as  he  does,  at  the  head  of  Howard  University,  and  in  the 
foremost  rank  among  the  orators  of  the  country,  he  is  doing  more,  perhaps, 
than  any  other  man  in  shaping  the  character  and  destiny  of  the  colored  race 
in  the  United  States.  The  citizens  of  Oberlin,  many  of  whom  have  known, 
him  from  boyhood,  rejoice  in  his  past  success  and  trust  h!m  for  the  future. 
He  is  now  just  in  the  prime  of  life,  and  greater  things  yet  maybe  reasonably 
expected  from  him.] 

MB.  PRESIDENT  AND  FRIENDS  :  I  thank  you  for  the  invita 
tion  which  brings  me  before  you  at  this  time,  to  address  you 
upon  this  most  interesting  occasion.  I  am  not  unmindful 
of  the  fact  that  I  stand  in  the  presence  of  instructors,  emi 
nently  distinguished  for  the  work  which  they  have  done  in 
the  cause  of  truth  and  humanity.  Oberlin  was  a  pioneer 
in  the  labor  of  abolition.  It  is  foremost  in  the  work  of 
bringing  about  equality  of  the  Negro  before  the  law.  Thirty- 
years  ago,  on  the  first  day  of  last  March,  it  was  my  good 
fortune,  a  boy  seeking  an  education,  to  see  Oberlin  for  the 
first  time.  Here  I  discovered  at  once  that  I  breathed  anew 


*  Delivered  at  Oberlin,  May  17,  1874,  on  the  Anniversary  oi  the  adoption  of 
the  15th  Amendment  of  the  United  States  Constitution. 


142  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

atmosphere.  Though  poor,  and  a  colored  boy,  I  found  no 
distinction  made  against  me  in  your  hotel,  in  your  institu 
tion  of  learning,  in  your  family  circle.  I  come  here  to-day 
with  a  heart  full  of  gratitude,  to  say  to  you,  in  this  public 
way,  that  I  not  only  thank  you  for  what  you  did  for  me 
individually,  but  for  what  you  did  for  the  cause  whose  suc 
cess  makes  this  day  the  colored  American  a  citizen  sustained 
in  all  the  rights,  privileges,  and  immunities  of  American 
citizenship  by  law. 

As  our  country  advances  in  civilization,  prosperity  and 
happiness,  cultivating  things  which  appertain  to  literature, 
science,  and  law,  may  your  Oberlin,  as  in  the  past,  so  in  all 
the  future,  go  forward,  cultivating  a  noble,  patriotic,  Christian 
leadership.  In  the  name  of  the  Negro,  so  largely  blest  and 
benefitted  by  your  institution,  I  bid  you  a  hearty  God-speed. 

Mr,  President :  Within  less  than  a  quarter  of  a  century, 
within  the  last  fifteen  years,  the  colored  American  has  been 
raised  from  the  condition  of  four-footed  beasts  and  creeping 
things  to  the  level  of  enfranchised  manhood.  Within  this 
period  the  slave  oligarchy  of  the  land  has  been  overthrown, 
and  the  nation  itself  emancipated  from  its  barbarous  rule. 
The  compromise  measures  of  1850,  including  the  Fugitive 
Slave  law,  together  with  the  whole  body  of  law  enacted  in 
the  interest  of  slavery,  then  accepted  as  finalities,  and  the 
power  of  leading  political  parties  pledged  to  their  mainte 
nance,  have,  with  those  parties,  been  utterly  nullified  and 
destroyed.  In  their  stead  we  have  a  purified  constitution 
and  legislation  no  longer  construed  and  enforced  to  sanction 
and  support  inhumanity  and  crime,  but  to  sustain  and  per 
petuate  the  freedom  and  the  rights  of  us  all. 

Indeed,  two  nations  have  been  born  in  a  day.  For  in  the 
death  of  slavery,  and  througli  the  change  indicated,  the 
colored  American  has  been  spoken  into  the  new  life  of 


EQUALITY  BEFORE  THE  LAW.  143 

liberty  and  law ;  while  new,  other  and  better  purposes,  aspi 
rations  and  feelings,  have  possessed  and  moved  the  soul  of 
his  fellow-countrymen.  The  moral  atmosphere  of  the  land 
is  no  longer  that  of  slavery  and  hate;  as  far  as  the  late 
slave,  even,  is  concerned,  it  is  largely  that  of  freedom  and 
fraternal  appreciation. 

Not  forgetting  the  struggle  and  sacrifice  of  the  people, 
the  matchless  courage  and  endurance  of  our  soldiery,  neces 
sary  to  the  salvation  of  the  Government  and  Union,  our 
freedom  and  that  reconstruction  of  sentiment  and  law 
essential  to  their  support,  it  is  eminently  proper  that  we  all 
leave  our  ordinary  callings  this  day,  to  join  in  cordial  com 
memoration  of  our  emancipation,  the  triumph  of  a  movement 
whose  comprehensive  results  profit  and  bless  without  dis 
crimination  as  to  color  or  race. 

Hon.  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  on  the  4th  day  of  July  last,  in 
addressing  his  fellow-citizens  of  Massachusetts,  at  Framing- 
ham,  used  the  following  language,  as  I  conceive,  with  propri 
ety  and  truth : 

"But  another  and,  it  may  not  be  too  much  to  say,  greater 
event  has  arisen  withia  this  generation.  The  rebellion  sought 
to  undo  all  that  '76  had  done,  and  to  dissolve  the  nation  then 
born,  and  to  set  aside  the  Declaration  that  all  men  are 
created  equal,  with  certain  inalienable  rights,  among  which 
are  life,  liberty  and  tho  pursuit  of  happiness.  The  war  that 
ensued  in  suppressing  this  treasonable  design,  demanded  so 
much  greater  effort,  so  much  more  terrible  sacrifice,  and  has 
imprinted  itself  upon  the  people  with  so  much  more  sharp 
ness  and  freshness,  that  we  of  the  present,  and  still  more  they 
of  the  coming  generation,  almost  forgetting  '76,  will  remember 
'61  and  '65,  and  th-a  wrongs  iriflicted  upon  our  fathers  by 
King  George  and  his  ministers  will  be  obliterated  by  the 
remembrance  of  the  Proclamation  of  Emancipation,  the  as 
sassination  of  the  President,  the  restoration  of  the  Union,  and 
the  reconstruction  of  the  country  in  one  united,  and  as  we 
fondly  trust,  never  to  be  dissevered  nation." 


144  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

The  laws  of  a  nation  are  no  more  the  indices  of  its  public 
sentiment  and  its  civilization,  than  of  its  promise  of  progress 
toward  the  permanent  establishment  of  freedom  and  equal 
rights.  The  histories  of  the  empires  of  the  past,  no  less  than 
the  nations  of  the  present,  bear  testimony  to  the  truthfulness 
of  this  statement.  Because  this  is  so,  her  laws,  no  less  than 
her  literature  and  science,  constitute  the  glory  of  a  nation, 
and  render  her  influence  lasting.  This  is  particularly  illus 
trated  in  the  case  of  Rome,  immortalized,  certainly,  not  less 
by  her^aws  than  her  letters  or  her  arms.  Hence  the  sages, 
the  jurists,  and  the  statesmen  of  all  ages,  since  Justinian,  have 
dwelt  with  delight  and  admiration  upon  the  excellences  and 
beauties  of  Roman  jurisprudence.  Of  the  civil  law  Chancel 
lor  Kent  eloquently  says:  "It  was  created  and  matured  on 
the  banks  of  the  Tiber,  by  the  successive  wisdom  of  Roman 
statesmen,  magistrates  and  sages;  and  after^governing  the 
greatest  people  in  the  ancient  world  for  the  space  of  thirteen 
or  fourteen  centuries,  and  undergoing  extraordinary  vicissi 
tudes  after  the  fall  of  the  Western  Empire,  it  was  revived, 
admired  and  studied  in  northern  Europe,  on  account  of  the 
variety  and  excellence  of  its  general  principles.  It  is  now 
taught  and  obeyed  not  only  in  France,  Spain,  Germany,  Hol 
land,  and  Scotland,  but  in  the  islands  of  the  Indian  Ocean 
and  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  St.  Lawrence.  So 
true,  it  seems,  are  the  words  of  d'Augesseau,  that  "the  grand 
destinies  of  Rome  are  not  yet  accomplished  ;  she  reigns 
throughout  the  world  by  her  reason,  after  having  ceased  to 
reign  by  her  authority."  Aiul  the  reason  through  which  she 
here  reigns,  is  the  reason  of  the  law. 

It  is  no  more  interesting  to  the  patriot  than  to  the  philan 
thropist  to  trace  the  changes  which  have  been  made  during  the 
last  decade  in  our  legislation  and  law.  Nor  is  there  anything 
in  these  changes  to  cause  regret  or  fear  to  the  wise  and  saga- 


EQUALITY  BEFORE  THE  LAW.  145 

cious  lawyer  or  statesman.  This  is  particularly  true  since, 
in  the  changes  made,  we  essay  no  novel  experiments  in  legis 
lation  and  law,  but  such  as  are  justified  by  principles  drawn 
from  the  fountains  of  our  jurisprudence,  the  Koman  civil 
and  the  common  law.  It  has  been  truthfully  stated  that 
the  common  law  has  made  no  distinction  on  account  of  race 
or  color.  None  is  now  made  in  England  or  in  any  other 
Christian  country  of  Europe.  Nor  is  there  any  such  distinction 
made,  to  my  knowledge,  in  the  whole  body  of  the  Roman 
civil  law. 

Among  the  changes  that  have  been  wrought  in  the  law  of 
our  country,  in  the  order  of  importance  and  dignity,  I  would 
mention,  first,  that  slavery  abolished,  not  by  State  but 
national  enactment,  can  never  again  in  the  history  of  our 
countoy  be  justified  or  defended  on  the  ground  that  it  is  a 
municipal  institution,  the  creature  of  State  law.  Hence 
forth,  as  our  emancipation  has  been  decreed  by  national 
declaration,  our  freedom  is  shielded  and  protected  by  the 
strong  arm  of  national  law.  Go  where  we  may,  now,  like 
the  atmosphere  about  us,  law  protects  us  in  our  locomotion, 
our  utterance,  and  our  pursuit  of  happiness.  And  to  this 
leading  and  fundamental  fact  of  the  law  the  people  and  the 
various  States  of  the  Union  are  adjusting  themselves  with 
grace  and  wisdom.  It  would  be  difficult  to  find  a  sane  man 
in  our  country  who  would  seriously  advocate  the  abrogation 
of  the  13th  amendment  to  the  Constitution. 

In  our  emancipation  it  is  fixed  by  law  that  the  place 
where  we  are  born  is  ipso  facto  our  country ;  and  this  gives  us 
a  domicile,  a  home.  As  in  slavery  we  had  no  self  ownership, 
nor  interest  in  anything  external  to  ourselves,  so  we  were 
without  country  and  legal  settlement.  While  slavery  ex- 
isted,  even  the  free  colored  American  was  in  no  better  con 
dition  ;  and  hence  exhortations,  prompted  in  many  instances 


146  FREEDOM:  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

by  considerations  of  philanthropy  and  good-will,  were  not 
infrequently  made  to  him  to  leave  his  native  land,  to  seek 
residence  and  home  elsewhere,  in  distant  and  inhospitable 
regions.  These  exhortations  did  not  always  pass  unheeded; 
for  eventually  a  national  organization  was  formed,  having 
for  its  sole  purpose  the  transportation  to  Africa  of  such 
colored  men  as  might  desire  to  leave  the  land  of  their  birth 
to  find  settlement  in  that  country.  And  through  the  influence 
of  the  African  Colonization  Society  not  a  few,  even,  of  our 
most  energetic,  enterprising,  industrious  and  able  colored 
men,  not  to  mention  thousands  of  the  humbler  class,  have 
been  carried  abroad. 

It  may  be  that,  in  the  providence  of  God,  these  persons, 
self-expatriated,  may  have  been  instrumental  in  building 
up  a  respectable  and  promising  government  in  Liberia,  and 
that  those  who  have  supported  the  Colonization  Society  have 
been  philanthropically  disposed,  both  as  regards  the  class 
transported  and  the  native  African.  It  is  still  true,  how 
ever,  that  the  emancipated  American  has  hitherto  been 
driven  or  compelled  to  consent  to  expatriation  because  de 
nied  legal  home  and  settlement  in  the  land  of  his  nativity. 
Expatriation  is  no  longer  thus  compelled  ;  for  it  is  now 
settled  in  the  law,  with  respect  to  the  colored,  as  well  as  all 
other  native-born  Americans,  that  the  country  of  his  birth, 
even  this  beautiful  and  goodly  land,  is  his  country.  Nothing, 
therefore,  appertaining  to  it,  its  rich  and  inexhaustible 
resources,  its  industry  and  commerce,  its  education  and 
religion,  its  law  and  Government,  the  glory  and  perpetuity 
of  its  free  institutions  and  Union,  can  be  without  lively  and 
permanent  interest  to  him,  as  to  all  others  who,  either  by 
birth  or  adoption,  legitimately  claim  it  as  their  country. 

With  emancipation,  then,  comes  also  that  which  is  dearer 
to  the  true  patriot  than  life  itself :  country  and  home.  And 


EQUALITY  BEFORE  THE  LAW.  147 

this  doctrine  of  the  law,  in  the  broad  and  comprehensive 
application  explained,  is  now  accepted  without  serious  ob 
jection  by  leading  jurists  and  statesmen. 

The  law  has  also  forever  determined,  and  to  our  advan 
tage,  that  nativity,  without  any  regard  to  nationality  or 
complexion,  settles,  absolutely,  the  question  of  citizenship. 
One  can  hardly  understand  how  citizenship,  predicated  upon 
•  birth,  could  have  ever  found  place  among  the  vexed  ques 
tions  of  the  law ;  certainly  American  law.  We  have  only 
to  read,  however,  the  official  opinions  given  by  leading  and 
representative  American  lawyers,  in  slaveholding  times,  to 
gain  full  knowledge  to  the  existence  of  this  fact.  According 
to  these  opinions  our  color,  race  and  degradation,  all  or 
either,  rendered  the  colored  American  incapable  of  being 
or  becoming  a  citizen  of  the  United  States.  As  early  as 
November  7th,  1821,  during  the  official  term  of  President 
Monroe,  the  Hon.  William  Wirt,  of  Virginia,  then  acting 
as  Attorney- General  of  the  United  States,  in  answer  to  the 
question  propounded  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
"  whether  free  persons  of  color  are,  in  Virginia,  citizens  of 
the  United  States  within  the  intent  and  meaning  of  the  acts 
regulating  foreign  and  coasting  trade,  so  as  to  be  qualified 
to  command  vessels,"  replied,  saying  among  other  things  : 
"  Free  Negroes  and  mulattoes  can  satisfy  the  requisitions  of 
age  and  residence  as  well  as  the  white  man;  and  if  nativity, 
residence  and  allegiance  combined  (without  the  rights  and 
privileges  of  a  white  man)  are  sufficient  to  make  him  a 
citizen  of  the  United  States,  in  the  sense  of  the  Constitu 
tion,  then  free  Negroes  and  mulattoes  are  eligible  to  those 
high  ^  offices,"  (of  President,  Senator  or  Representative,) 
"  and  may  command  the  purse  and  sword  of  the  nation." 
After  able  and  elaborate  argument  to  show  that  nativity  in 
the  case  of  the  colored  American  does  not  give  citizenship, 


148  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

according  to  the  meaning  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  Mr.  Wirt  concludes  his  opinion  in  these  words: 
"  Upon  the  whole,  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  free  persons  of 
color,  in  Virginia,  are  not  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
within  the  intent  and  meaning  of  the  acts  regulating  foreign  ! 
and  coasting  trade,  so  as  to  be  qualified  to  command  ves 
sels." 

This  subject  was  further  (fiscussed  in  1843,  when  the  Hon. 
John  C.  Spencer,  then  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  submitted  " 
to  Hon.  H.  S.  Legare.  Attorney-General  of  the  United  States, 
in  behalf  of  the  Commissioner  of  the  General  Land  Office, 
with  request  that  his  opinion  be  given  thereon,  "  whether  a 
free  man  of  color,  in  the  case  presented,  can  be  admitted  to 
the  privileges  of  a  pre-emptioner  under  the  act  of  Septem 
ber  4,  1841."  In  answering  this  question,  Mr.  Legare  held  : 
"  It  is  not  necessary,  in  my  view  of  the  matter,  to  discuss 
the  question  how  far  a  free  man  of  color  may  be  a  citizen 
in  the  highest  sense  of  that  word  that  is,  one  who  enjoys  in 
tne  fullest  manner  all  the  jura  civitatis  under  the  Constitu 
tion  of  the  United  States.  It  is  the  plain  meaning  of  the 
act  to  give  the  right  of  pre-emption  to  all  denizens ;  any 
foreigner  who  had  filed  his  declaration  of  intention  to  be 
come  a  citizen  is  rendered  at  once  capable  of  holding  land." 
Continuing,  he  says:  "Now,  free  people  of  color  are  not 
aliens;  they  enjoy  universally  (while  there  has  been  no  ex 
press  statutory  provision  to  the  contrary)  the  rights  of  deni 
zens." 

This  opinion  of  the  learned  Attorney-General,  while  it 
admits  the  free  man  of  color  to  the  privileges  of  a  pre-emp 
tioner  under  the  act  mentioned,  places  him  legally  in  a  non 
descript  condition,  erroneously  assuming,  as  we  clearly 
undertake  to  say,  that  there  are  degrees  and  grades  of  Ameri 
can  citizenship.  These  opinions  accord  well  with  the  dicta 


EQUALITY  BEFOEE  1HE  LAW.  149 

of  the  Dred-Scott  decision,  of  which  we  have  lively  remem 
brance. 

But  a  change  was  wrought  in  the  feeling  and  conviction 
of  our  country,  as  indicated  in  the  election  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  President  of  the  United  States.  On  the  22d  day  of 
September,  1862,  he  issued  his  preliminary  Emancipation 
Proclamation.  On  the  29th  day  of  the  following  November 
Salmon  P.  Chase,  then  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  propounded 
to  Edward  Bates,  then  Attorney-General,  the  same  question 
in  substance  which  had  been  put  in  1821  to  William  Wirt, 
viz. :  "Are  colored  men  citizens  of  the  United  States,  and 
therefore  competent  to  command  American  vessels?  "  The 
reasoning  and  the  conclusion  reached  by  Edward  Bates  were 
entirely ''different  from  that  of  his  predecessor,William  Wirt. 
Nor  does  Edward  Bates  leave  the  colored  American  in  the 
anomalous  condition  of  a  "denizen."  In  his  masterly  and 
exhaustive  opinion,  creditable  alike  to  his  ability  and  learn 
ing,  his  patriotism  and  philanthropy,  he  maintains  that  "free 
men  of  color,  if  born  in  the  United  States,  are  citizens  of 
the  United  States;  and,  if  otherwise  qualified,  are  compe 
tent,  according  to  the  acts  of  Congress,  to  be  masters  of 
vessels  engaged  in  the  coasting  trade.  In  the  course  of  his 
argument  he  says  : 

1.  "In  every  civilized  country  the  individual  is  born  to 
duties  and  rights,  the  duty  of  allegiance  and  the  right  to 
protection,  and  these  are  correlative  obligations,  the  one  the 
price  of  the  other,  and  they  constitute  the  all-sufficient  bond 
of  union  between  the  individual  and  his  country,  and  the 
country  he  is  born  in  is  prima  facie  his  country. 

2.  "And   our  Constitution,  in  speaking  of  natural-born 
citizens,  uses  no  affirmative  language  to  make  them  such, 
but  only  recognizes  and  reaffirms  the  universal  principle, 
common  to  all  nations  and  as  old  as  political  society,  that 
the  people  born  in  the  country  do  constitute  the  nation,  and, 
as  individuals,  are  natural  members  of  the  body  politic. 


ICO  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

3.  "In  twe  United  States  it  is  too  late  to  deny  the  politi 
cal  rights  and  obligations  conferred  and  imposed  by  nativity; 
for  our  laws  do  not  pretend  to  create  or  enact  them,  but  do 
assume  and  recognize  them  as  things  known  to  all  men,  be 
cause  pre-existent  and  natural,  and,  therefore,  things  of 
which  the  laws  must  take  cognizance. 

4.  "It  is  strenuously  insisted  by  some  that  'persons  of 
color,'  though  born  in  the  county,  are  not  capable  of  being 
citizens  of  the  United  States.     As  far  as  the  Constitution  is 
concerned,  this  is  a  naked  assumption,  for  the  Constitution 
contains  not  one  word  upon  the  subject. 

5.  "There  are  some  who,  abandoning  the  untenable  objec 
tion  of  color,  still  contend  that  no  person  descended  from 
Negroes  of  the  African  race  can  be  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States.     Here  the  objection  is  not  color  but  race  only.     *     * 
*     *     The  Constitution  certainly  does  not  forbid  it,  but  is 
silent  about  race  as  it  is  about  color. 

6.  "But  it  is  said  that  African  Negroes  are  a  degraded 
race,  and  that  all  who  are  tainted  with  that  degradation  are 
forever  disqualified  for  the  functions  of  citizenship.     I  can 
hardly  comprehend  the  thought  of  the  ^absolufe  incompati 
bility  of  degradation  and  citizenship;  I  thought  that  they 
often  went  together. 

7.  "  Our  nationality  was  created  and  our  political  govern 
ment  exists  by  written  law,  and  inasmuch  as  that  law  does 
not  exclude  persons  of  that  descent,  and  as  its  terms  are 
manifestly  broad  enough  to  include  them,  it  follows,  inevit 
ably,  that  such  persons  born  in  the  country  must  be  citizens 
unless  the  fact  of  African  descent  be  so  incompatible  with 
the  fact  of  citizenship  that  the  two  cannot  exist  together," 

When  it  is  recollected  that  these  broad  propositions  with 
regard  to  citizenship  predicated  upon  nativity,  and  in  the 
case  of  free  colored  men,  were  enunciated  prior  to  the  firstday 
of  January,  1863,  before  emancipation,  before  even  the  13th 
amendment  of  the  Constitution  was  adopted  ;  when  the  law 
stood  precisely  as  it  was,  when  Wirt  and  Legare  gave  their 
opinions,  it  must  be  conceded  that  Bates  was  not  only 
thoroughly  read  in  the  law,  but  bold  and  sagacious.  For 


EQUALITY  BEFORE  THE  LAW.  151 

these  propositions  have  all  passed,  through  the  14th  amend 
ment,  into  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  are 
sustained  by  a  wise  and  well-defined  public  judgment. 

With  freedom  decreed  by  law,  citizenship  sanctioned  and 
sustained  thereby,  the  duty  of  allegiance  on  the  one  part, 
and  the  right  of  protection  on  the  other  recognized  and  en 
forced,  even  if  considerations  of  political  necessity  had  not 
intervened,  the  gift  of  the  ballot  to  the  colored  American 
could  not  have  long  been  delayed.  The  15th  amendment 
is  the  logical  and  legal  consequences  of  the  13th  and  14th 
amendments  of  the  Constitution.  Considerations  of  political 
necessity,  as  indicated,  no  doubt  hastened  the  adoption  of 
this  amendment.  But  in  the  progress  of  legal  development 
in  our  country,  consequent  upon  the  triumph  of  the  abolition 
movement,  its  corning  was  inevitable.  And,  therefore,  as-its 
legal  necessity,  as  well  as  political,  is  recognized  and  admitted, 
opposition  to  it  has  well-nigh  disappeared.  Indeed,  so  far  from 
there  being  anything  like  general  and  organized  opposition  to 
the  exercise  of  political  powers  by  the  enfranchised  American, 
the  people  accept  it  as  a  fit  and  natural  fact. 

Great  as  the  change  has  been  with  regard  to  the  legal  status 
of  the  colored  American,  in  his  freedom,  his  enfranchisement, 
and  the  exercise  of  political  powers,  he  is  not  yet  given  the 
full  exercise  and  enjoyment  of  all  the  rights  which  appertain 
by  law  to  American  citizenship.  Such  as  are  still  denied 
him  are  withheld  on  the  plea  that  their  recognition  would 
result  in  social  equality,  and  his  demand  for  them  is  met  by  con. 
siderations  derived  from  individual  and  domestic  opposition. 
Such  reasoning  is  no  more  destitute  of  logic  than  law.  While 
I  hold  that  opinion  sound  which  does  not  accept  mere  .preju 
dice  and  caprice  instead  of  the  promptings  of  nature,  guided 
by  cultivated  taste  and  wise  judgment  as  the  true  basis  of 
social  recognition  ;  and  believing,  too,  that  in  a  Christian  com- 


152  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

munity,  social  recognition  may  justly  be  pronounced  a  duty, 
I  would  not  deal  in  this  discussion  with  matters  of  society. 
I  would  justify  the  claim  of  the  colored  American  to  complete 
equality  of  rights  and  privileges  upon  well  considered  and 
accepted  principles  of  law. 

As  showing  the  condition  and  treatment  of  the  colored 
citizens  of  this  country,  anterior  to  the  introduction  of  the 
Civil  Rights  Bill,  so  called,  into  the  United  States  Senate,  by 
the  late  Hon.  Charles  Sumner,  I  ask  your  attention  to  the 
following  words  from  a  letter  written  by  him : 

"I  wish  a  bill  carefully  drawn,  supplementary  to  the  ex 
isting  Civil  Rights  Law,  by  which  all  citizens  shall  be  pro 
tected  in  equal  rights : — 

"1.  On  railroads,  steamboats  and  public  conveyances,  being 
public  carriers. 

"2.  At  all  houses  in  the  nature  of  'inns.' 

"  3.  All  licensed  houses  of  public  amusement. 

"  4.  At  all  common  schools. 

"Can  you  do  this?  I  would  follow  as  much  as  possible  the 
language  of  the  existing  Civil  Rights  Law,  and  make  the  new 
bill  supplementary." 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  very  clear  and  definite  statement 
of  the  Senator,  that  in  his  judgment,  in  spite  of  and  contrary 
to  common  law  rules  applied  in  the  case,  certainly  of  all 
others,  and  recognized  as  fully  settled,  the  colored  citizen 
was  denied  those  accommodations,  facilities,  advantages  and 
privileges,  furnished  ordinarily  by  common  carriers,  inn. 
keepers,  at  public  places  of  amusement  and  common  schools  ; 
and  which  are  so  indispensable  to  rational  and  useful  enjoy 
ment  of  life,  that  without  them  citizenship  itself  loses  much 
of  its  value,  and  liberty  seems  little  more  than  a  name. 

The  judicial  axiom,  "omnes  homines  cequales  sunt"  is  said 
to  have  been  given  the  world  by  the  jurisconsults  of  the  An- 
tonine  era.  From  the  Roman,  the  French  people  inherited 


EQUALITY  BEFORE  THE  LAW.  153 

this  legal  sentiment;  and,  through  the  learning,  the  wisdom  and 
patriotism  of  Thomas  Jefferson  and  his  Revolutionary  compa 
triots,  it  was  made  the  chief  corner-stone  of  jurisprudence  and 
politics.  In  considering  the  injustice  done  the  colored  Amer 
ican  in  denying  him  common  school  advantages,  on  general 
and  equal  terms  with  all  others,  impartial  treatment  in  the 
conveyances  of  common  carriers,  by  sea  and  land,  and  the 
enjoyment  of  the  usual  accommodations  afforded  travelers  at 
public  inns,  and  in  vindicating  his  claim  to  the  same,  it  is 
well  to  bear  in  mind  this  fundamental  and  immutable  prin 
ciple  upon  which  the  fathers  built,  and. in  the  light  of  which 
our  law  ought  to  be  construed  and  enforced.  This  observa 
tion  has  especial  significance  as  regards  the  obligations  and 
liabilities  of  common  carriers  and  inn -keepers ;  for  from  the 
civil  law  we  have  borrowed  those  principles  largely  which 
have  controlling  force  in  respect  to  these  subjects.  It  is 
manifest,  in  view  of  this  statement,  that  the  law  with  regard 
to  these  topics  is  neither  novel  nor  unsettled  ;  and  when*the 
colored  American  asks  its  due  enforcement  in  his  behalf,  he 
makes  no  unnatural  and  strange  demand. 

Denied,  generally,  equal  school  advantages,  the  colored 
citizen  demands  them  in  the  name  of  that  equality  of  rights 
and  privileges  which  is  the  vital  element  of  American  law. 
Equal  in  freedom,  sustained  by  law  ;  equal  in  citizenship, 
defined  and  supported  by  the  law ;  equal  in  the  exercise  of 
political  powers,  regulated  and  sanctioned  by  law ;  by  what 
refinement  of  reasoning,  or  tenet  of  law,  can  the  denial  of 
common  school  and  other  educational  advantages  be  justified  ? 
To  answer,  that  so  readeth  the  statute,  is  only  to  drive  us 
back  of  the  letter  to  the  reasonableness,  the  soul  of  the  law, 
in  the  name  of  which  we  would,  as  we  do,  demand  the  repeal 
of  that  enactment  which  is  not  only  not  law,  but  contrary  to 
its  simplest  requirements.  It  may  be  true  that  that  which 


154  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

ought  to  be  law  is  not  always  so  written  ;  but,  in  this  matter, 
that  only  ought  to  remain  upon  the  statute  book,  to  be  en 
forced  as  to  citizens  and  voters,  which  is  law  in  the  truest  and 
best  sense. 

Without  dwelling  upon  the  advantages  of  a  thorough 
common  school  education,  I  will  content  myself  by  offering 
several  considerations  against  the  prescriptive,  and  in  favor 
of  the  common  school.  A  common  school  should  be  one  to 
which  all  citizens  may  send  their  children,  not  by  favor,  but 
by  right.  It  is  established  and  supported  by  the  Government; 
its  criterion  is  a  public  foundation  ;  and  one  citizen  has  as 
rightful  claim  upon  its  privileges  and  advantages  as  any 
other.  The  money  set  apart  to  its  organization  and  support, 
whatever  the  sources  whence  it  is  drawn,  whether  from  taxa 
tion  or  appropriation,  having  been  dedicated  to  the  public 
use,  belongs  as  much  to  one  as  to  another  citizen  ;  and  no 
principle  of  law  can  be  adduced  to  justify  any  arbitrary 
classification  which  excludes  the  child  of  any  citizen  or  class 
of  citizens  from  equal  enjoyment  of  the  advantages  purchased 
by  such  fund,  it  being  the  common  property  of  every  citizen 
equally,  by  reason  of  its  public  dedication. 

Schools  which  tend  to  separate  the  children  of  the  coun 
try  in  their  feelings,  aspirations  and  purposes,  which  foster 
and  perpetuate  sentiments  of  caste,  hatred,  and  ill-will,  which 
breed  a  sense  of  degradation  on  the  one  part  and  of  superi 
ority  on  the  other,  which  beget  clannish  notions  rather  than 
teach  and  impress  an  omnipresent  and  living  principle  and 
faith  that  we  are  all  Americans,  in  no  wise  realize  our 
ideal  of  common  schools,  while  they  are  contrary  to  the  spirit 
of  our  laws  and  institutions. 

Two  separate  school  systems,  tolerating  discriminations 
in  favor  of  one  class  against  another,  inflating  on  the  one 
part,  degrading  on  the  other;  two  separate  school  systems, 


EQUALITY  BEFORE  THE  LAW.  155 

I  say,  tolerating  such  state  of  feeling  and  sentiment  on  the 
part  of  the  classes  instructed  respectively  in  accordance 
therewith,  cannot  educate  these  classes  to  live  harmoniously 
together,  meeting  the  responsibilities  and  discharging  the 
duties  imposed  by  a  common  government  in  the  interest  of 
a  common  country. 

The  object  of  the  common  school  is  two-fold.  In  the  first 
place  it  should  bring  to  every  child,  especially  the  poor  child, 
a  reasonable  degree  of  elementary  education.  In  the  second 
place  it  should  furnish  a  common  education,  one  similar  and 
equal  to  all  pupils  attending  it.  Thus  furnished,  our  sons 
enter  upon  business  or  professional  walks  with  an  equal  start 
in  life.  Such  education  the  Government  owes  to  all  classes 
of  the  people. 

The  obligations  and  liabilities  of  the  common  carrier  of 
passengers  can,  in  no  sense,  be  made  dependent  upon  the 
nationality  or  color  of  those  with  whom  he  deals.  He  may 
not,  according  to  law,  answer  his  engagements  to  one  class 
and  justify  non-performance  or  neglect  as  to  another  by  con 
siderations  drawn  from  race.  His  contract  is  originally  and 
fundamentally  with  the  entire  community,  and  with  all  its 
members  he  is  held  to  equal  and  impartial  obligation.  On 
this  subject  the  rules  of  law  are  definite,  clear,  and  satisfac 
tory.  These  rules  may  be  stated  concisely  as  follows  :  It  is 
the  duty  of  the  common  carrier  of  passengers  to  receive  all 
persons  applying  and  who  do  not  refuse  to  obey  any  reason 
able  regulations  imposed,  who  are  not  guilty  of  gross  and 
vulgar  habits  of  conduct,  whose  characters  are  not  doubtful, 
dissolute  or  suspicious  or  unequivocally  bad,  and  whose  ob 
ject  in  seeking  conveyance  is  not  to  interfere  with  the  inter 
ests  or  patronage  of  the  carrier  so  as  to  make  his  business 
less  lucrative. 

And,  in  the  second  place,  common  carriers  may  not  im- 


156  FEEEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

pose  upon  passengers  oppressive  and  grossly  unreasonable 
orders  and  regulations.  Were  there  doubt  in  regard  to  the 
obligation  of  common  carriers  as  indicated,  the  authorities 
are  abundant  and  might  be  quoted  at  large.  Here,  however, 
I  need  not  make  quotations.  The  only  question  which  can 
arise  as  between  myself  and  any  intelligent  lawyer,  is  as  to 
whether  the  regulation  made  by  common  carriers  of  pass 
engers  generally  in  this  country,  by  which  white  passengers 
and  colored  ones  are  separated  on  steamboats,  railroad  cars, 
and  stage  coaches,  greatly  to  the  disadvantage,  inconveni 
ence,  and  dissatisfaction  of  the  latter  class,  is  reasonable. 
As  to  this  question,  I  leave  such  lawyer  to  the  books  and  his 
own  conscience.  We  have  advanced  so  far  on  this  subject, 
in  thought,  feeling,  and  purpose,  that  the  day  cannot  be  dis 
tant  when  there  will  be  found  among  us  no  one  to  justify 
such  regulations  by  common  carriers,  and  when  they  will  be 
made  to  adjust  themselves,  in  their  orders  and  regulations 
with  regard  thereto,  to  the  rules  of  the  common  law.  The 
grievance  of  the  citizen  in  this  particular  is  neither  imagi 
nary  nor  sentimental.  His  experience  of  sadness  and  pain 
attests  its  reality,  and  the  awakening  sense  of  the  people 
generally,  as  discovered  in  their  expressions,  the  decisions 
of  several  of  our  courts,  and  the  recent  legislation  of  a  few 
States,  shows  that  this  particular  discrimination,  inequitable 
as  it  is  illegal,  cannot  long  be  tolerated  in  any  section  of  our 
country, 

The  law  with  regard  to  inn-keepers  is  not  less  explict  and 
rigid.  They  are  not  allowed  to  accommodate  or  refuse  to  ac 
commodate  wayfaring  persoas  according  to  their  own  foolish 
prejudices  or  the  senseless  and  cruel  hatred  of  their  guests. 

Their  duties  are  defined  in  the  following  language,  the 
very  words  of  the  law  : 

"Inns  were  allowed  for  the  benefit  of  travelers,  who  have 


EQUALITY  BEFORE  THE  LAW.  157 

certain  privileges  whilst  they  are  in  their  journeys,  and  are 
in  a  more  peculiar  manner  protected  by  law. 

"If  one  who  keeps  a  common  inn  refuses  to  receive  a 
traveler  as  a  guest  into  his  house,  or  to  find  him  victuals  or 
lodging  upon  his  tendering  a  reasonable  price  for  the  same, 
the  inn-keeper  is  liable  to  render  damages  in  an  action  at 
the  suit  of  the  party  grieved,  and  may  also  be  indicted  and 
fined  at  the  suit  of  the  King. 

"An  inn-keeper  is  not,  if  he  has  suitable  room,  at  liberty 
to  refuse  to  receive  a  guest  who  is  ready  and  able  to  pay 
him  a  suitable  compensation.  On  the  contrary,  he  is  bound 
to  receive  him,  and  if,  upon  false  pretences,  he  refuses,  he 
is  liable  to  an  action." 

These  are  doctrines  as  old  as  the  common  law  itself; 
indeed,  older,  for  they  come  down  to  us  from  Gaius  and  Pa- 
pinian.  All  discriminations  made,  therefore,  by  the  keepers 
of  public  houses  in  the  nature  of  inns,  to  the  disadvantage 
of  the  colored  citizen,  and  contrary  to  the  usual  treatment 
accorded  travelers,  is  not  only  wrong  morally,  but  utterly 
illegal.  To  this  judgment  the  public  mind  must  soon  come. 

Had  I  the  time,  and  were  it  not  too  great  a  trespass  upon 
your  patience,  I  should  be  glad  to  speak  of  the  injustice  and 
illegality,  as  well  as  inhumanity,  of  our  exclusion,  in  some 
localities,  from  jury,  public  places  of  learning  and  amuse 
ment,  the  church  and  the  cemetery.  I  will  only  say,  however, 
(and  in  this  statement  I  claim  the  instincts,  not  less  than 
the  well-formed  judgment  of  mankind,  in  our  behalf,)  that 
such  exclusion  at  least  seems  remarkable,  and  is  difficult  of 
defense  upon  any  considerations  of  humanity,  law,  or  Chris 
tianity.  Such  exclusion  is  the  more  remarkable  and  inde 
fensible  since  we  are  fellow-citizens,  wielding  like  political 
powers,  eligible  to  the  same  high  official  positions,  respon 
sible  to  the  same  degree  and  in  the  same  manner  for  the 
discharge  of  the  duties  they  impose;  interested  in  the  pro 
gress  and  civilization  of  a  common  country,  and  anxious, 


158  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

like  all  others,  that  its  destiny  be  glorious  and  matchless. 
It  is  strange,  indeed,  that  the  colored  American  may  find 
place  in  the  Senate,  but  it  is  denied  access  and  welcome  to 
the  public  place  of  learning,  the  theatre,  the  church  and  the 
graveyard,  upon  terms  accorded  to  all  others. 

But,  Mr.  President  and  friends,  it  ill  becomes  us  to  com 
plain;  we*  may  not  tarry  to  find  fault.    The  change  in  public 
sentiment,  the  reform  in  our  national  legislation  and  juris 
prudence,  which  we  this  day  commemorate,  transcendent 
and  admirable,  augurs  and  guarantees  to  all  American  citi 
zens  complete  equality  before  the  law,  in  the  protection  and 
enjoyment  of  all  those  rights  and  privileges  which  pertain 
to  manhood,  enfranchised  and  dignified.     To  us  the  13th 
amendment   of   our   Constitution,    abolishing   slavery   and 
perpetuating  freedom;   the    14th   amendment   establishing 
citizenship  and  prohibiting  the  enactment  of  any  law  which 
shall  abridge  the  privileges  or  immunities  of  citizens  of  the 
United  States,  or  which  shall  deny  the  equal  protection  of  the 
laws  to  all  American  citizens;  and  the  15th  amendment, 
which  declares  that  the  RIGHT  of  citizens  of  the  United  States 
to  vote  shall  not  be  denied  or  abridged  by  the  United  States 
or  by  any  State,  on  account  of  race,  color,  or  previous  con 
dition  of  servitude,  are  national  utterances  which  not  only 
recognize,  but  sustain  and  perpetuate  our  freedom  and  rights. 
To  the  colored  American,  more  than  to  all  others,  the 
language  of  these  amendments  is  not  vain.     To  use  the 
language  of  the  late  Hon.  Charles   Sumner,  "within    the 
sphere  of  their  influence  no  person  can  be  created,  no  person 
can  be  born,  with  civil  or  political  privileges  not  enjoyed 
equally  by  all  his  fellow-citizens;  nor  can  any  institution  be 
established  recognizing  distinction  of  birth.     Here  is  the 
great  charter  of  every  human  being,  drawing  vital  breath 
upon  this  soil,  whatever  may  be  his  condition  and  whoever 


EQUALITY  BEFOEE  THE  LAW.  159 

may  be  his  parents.  He  may  be  poor,  weak,  humble  or  black ; 
he  may  be  of  Caucasian,  Jewish,  Indian  or  Ethiopian  race; 
he  may  be  of  French,  German,  English  or  Irish  extraction; 
but  before  the  Constitution  all  these  distinctions  disappear. 
He  is  not  poor,  weak,  humble  or  black ;  nor  is  he  Caucasian, 
Jew,  Indian  or  Ethiopian ;  nor  is  he  French,  German,  English 
or  Irish — he  is  a  man,  the  equal  of  all  his  fellow-men.  He 
is  one  of  the  children  of  the  State,  which  like  an  impartial 
parent,  regards  all  its  offspring  with  an  equal  care.  To  some 
it  may  justly  allot  higher  duties  according  to  higher  capaci 
ties;  but  it  welcomes  all  to  its  equal  hospitable  board.  The 
State,  imitating  the  Divine  Justice,  is  no  respecter  of  per 
sons." 

With  freedom  established  in  our  own  country,  and  equality 
before  the  law  promised  in  early  Federal,  if  not  State*  legis 
lation,  we  may  well  consider  our  duty  with  regard  to  the 
abolition  of  slavery,  the  establishment  of  freedom  and  free 
institutions  upon  the  American  continent,  especially  in  the 
island  of  the  seas,  where  slavery  is  maintained  by  despotic 
Spanish  rule,  and  where  the  people  declaring  slavery  abol 
ished,  and  appealing  to  the  civilized  world  for  sympathy  and 
justification  of  their  course,  have  staked  all  upon  "  the  dread 
arbitrament  of  war."  There  can  be  no  peace  on  our  conti 
nent,  there  can  be  no  harmony  among  its  people  till  slavery 
is  everywhere  abolished  and  freedom  established  and  pro 
tected  by  law;  the  people  themselves,  making  for  themselves, 
and  supporting  their  own  government.  Every  nation,  whether 
its  home  be  an  island  or  upon  a  continent,  if  oppressed,  ought 
to  have,  like  our  own,  a  "  new  birth  of  freedom,"  and  its 
"  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  peo 
ple,"  shall  prove  at  once  its  strength  and  support. 

Our  sympathies  especially  2:0  out  towards  the  struggling  pa 
triots  of  Cuba.  We  would  see  the  "Queen  of  the  Antillt  s"  free 


160  FBEEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

from  Spanish  rule ;  her  slaves  all  freemen,  and  herself  advanc 
ing  in  her  freedom,  across  the  way  of  national  greatness  and 
renown.  Or  if  her  million  and  a  half  inhabitants,  with  their 
thousands  of  rich  and  fertile  fields,  are  unable  to  support 
national  independence  and  unity,  let  her  not  look  for  protec 
tion  from,  or  annexation  to,  a  country  and  government  des 
potic  and  ^oppressive  in  its  policy.  By  its  proximity  to  our 
shores,  by  the  ties  of  blood  which  connect  its  population  and 
ours ;  by  the  examples  presented  in  our  Revolutionary  con' 
flict,  when  France  furnished  succor  and  aid  to  our  struggling 
but  heroic  fathers;  by  the  lessons  and  examples  of  interna 
tional  law  and  history ;  by  all  the  pledges  made  by  our  nation 
in  favor  of  freedom  and  equal  rights,  the  oppressed  and  suf 
fering  people  of  Cuba  may  justly  expect,  demand  our  sym 
pathies  and  support  in  their  struggle  for  freedom  and  inde 
pendence.  Especially  let  the  colored  American  realize  that 
where  battle  is  made  against  despotism  and  oppression,  wher 
ever  humanity  struggles  for  national  existence  and  recogni 
tion,  there  his  sympathies  should  be  felt,  his  word  and  succor 
inspiriting,  encouraging  and  supporting.  To-day  let  us  send 
our  word  of  sympathy  to  the  struggling  thousands  of  Cuba, 
among  whom,  as  well  as  among  the  people  of  Porto  Rico,  we 
hope  soon  to  see  slavery,  indeed,  abolished,  free  institutions 
firmly  established,  and  good  order,  prosperity  and  happiness 
secured.  This  accomplished,  our  continent  is  dedicated  to 
freedom  and  free  institutions-,  and  the  nations  which  com 
pose  its  population  will  enjoy  sure  promise  of  national  great 
ness  and  glory.  Freedom  and  free  institutions  should  be 
as  broad  as  our  continent.  Among  no  nation  here  should 
there  be  found  any  enslaved  or  oppressed.  "  Compromises 
between  right  and  wrong,  under  pretence  of  expediency," 
should  disappear  forever;  our  house  should  be  no  longer 
divided  against  itself;  a  new  corner-storte  should  be  built 


EQUALITY  BEFORE  THE  LAW. 


161 


into  the  edifice  of  our  national,  continental  liberty,  and  those 
who  "  guard  and  support  the  structure,"  should  accept,  in  all 
its  comprehensiveness,  the  sentiment  that  all  men  are  created 
equal,  and  that  governments  are  established  among  men  to 
defend  and  protect  their  inalienable  rights  to  life,  liberty, 
and  the  pursuit  of  happiness. 


EULOGY  ON  CHARLES  SUMNER. 


THE  GREAT  CHAMPION  OF  EQUAL  RIGHTS  FOR 
THE  COLORED  AMERICAN  —  HIS  CHARACTER  AS 
SCHOLAR  AND  ORATOR,  AUTHOR  AND  LAWYER, 
REFORMER,  STATESMAN  AND  MAN.* 


MR.  PRESIDENT,  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  OF  HOWARD 
UNIVERSITY  SENATE:  I  am  not  insensible  of,  nor  do  I  fail  to 
appreciate,  the  honor  you  have  done  me  by  your  invitation 
to  pronounce  a  eulogy  on  the  late  Hon.  Charles  Sumner. 
Nor  am  I  insensible  of  the  responsibility  which  I  assume  in 
undertaking  this  task.  Impelled,  however,  by  sentiments  of 
gratitude  to,  and  admiration  for,  the  subject  of  my  address, 
and  supported  by  the  assurance  of  your  sympathy,  I  go  for 
ward,  I  trust,  with  wise  and  reasonable  confidence, 

Wben  Charles  Sumner  died  a  great  man  passed  through 
the  gateway  of  death  to  his  place  in  history.  Henceforth  his 
name  is  to  be  associated  in  the  minds  of  men  with  the  great 
and  illustrious  of  mankind — with  the  names  of  Wilberforce, 
O'Connell,  Washington,  Chase,  and  Lincoln.  Nor  is  the 
place  to  be  assigned  him,  even  in  this  galaxy  of  the  departed 
worthies,  any  other  than  one  prominent  and  conspicuous. 

His  achievements  mark  and  distinguish  the  present  as  the 
most  memorable  epoch  of  our  national  history ;  and  as  these 
achievements  are  recalled  and  considered,  in  their  moral  sig 
nificance,  in  the  ages  to  come,  the  grandeur  and  glory  of  his 

*  Delivered  in  Howard  University,  Washington  -D.  C.,  on  Friday,  April  24, 


EULOGY  ON  CHARLES  SUMNEB.  163 

oame  and  services  must  ever  increase.  Indeed,  he  has  passed 
from  life,  its  struggles,  its  sacrifices,  its  defeats,  to  immortality* 
its  reward,  its  crown. 

Many-sided  is  the  person  upon  whose  character  we  now 
dwell ;  so  distinguished  for  variety  of  brilliant  and  command 
ing  qualities,  that  one  may  not  hope,  in  a  brief  address,  to  do 
more  than  refer  to  a  few  of  his  more  prominent  and  distin 
guishing  characteristics.  It  shall  be  my  purpose  to  speak 
of  him  as  scholar  and  orator,  author  and  lawyer,  reformer, 
statesman  and  man. 

In  addition  to  his  native  ability,  there  were  three  things 
which  contributed  to  make  Mr.  Sumner  a  profound  and  com 
plete  scholar:  his  early  domestic  advantages,  his  location 
within  the  reach  of  the  best  schools  and  institutions  of  learn 
ing  of  his  country,  and  the  rare  privilege  of  association  with 
the  best  scholars  and  professional  men  of  his  own  and  other 
countries,  from  the  earliest  young  manhood  through  life.  He 
neither  failed  to  appreciate  nor  cultivate  these  opportunities. 
It  is  impossible  to  estimate  the  effect  of  such  influences  upon 
the  scholarship,  the  achievements,  and  the  eminence  of  Lord 
Bacon.  It  is  equally  impossible  to  measure,  adequately, 
their  effect  upon  the  character  of  Charles  Sumner.  While  he 
was  not  especially  distinguished  in  mathematical  study,  nor 
the  natural  sciences,  he  was  profoundly  read  in  the  classic^ 
ancient  and  modern,  of  his  own  and  foreign  tongues;  and 
cultivating,  as  he  did,  a  linguistic  knowledge,  he  was  lei 
a  natural  and  easy  route  to  the  study  and  mastery  of  meta 
physical,  moral,  theological  and  lega.1  science.  His  efforts 
demonstrate  his  profound  learning  in  all  these  particulars 
and  show  him  the  master  of  large,  various,  and  complete 
culture. 

The  fame  of  his  scholarship  is  not  confined  to  his  own 
country,  nor  to  the  people  who  cultivate  with  us  the  English 


164  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

tongue ;  for  his  writings  are  translated  into  the  German,  the 
French,  and  other  modern  languages  ;  and  wherever  read,  his 
reputation  as  a  scholar  is  established.  Abroad  he  is  regarded 
above  all  others  as  the  scholar  of  our  country.  Certainly, 
no  one  among  our  prominent  public  men  is  comparable  with 
him  in  this  respect. 

There  is  much  in  the  character  of  Charles  Sumner  as  a 
scholar  that  makes  it  proper  to  class  him  with  the  great 
scholars  of  England — Bacon  and  Burke.  Like  both,  he  was 
distinguished  for  untiring  industry,  variety  of  acquirement, 
and  efficient  use  of  knowledge  with  pen  and  tongue.  His 
learning  may  not  have  been  as  profound  and  scientifij  as  that 
of  Bacon  ;  it  was  like  that  of  Burke,  comprehensive  and 
various.  Without  the  selfish  ambition  of  Bacon,  he  cultivated 
largely  the  virtue  to  which  the  broad  fields  of  literature  and 
learning  supply  abundant  and  healthful  nourishment ;  and, 
like  Burke,  goes  down  to  posterity  distinguished  for  solid, 
scholarly  integrity. 

The  great  orators  of  our  own  and  other  countries  are  divided 
into  two  classes.  The  one  is  distinguished  both  f  r  matter 
and  manner  of  delivery,  while  the  other  is  more  especially 
distinguished  for  the  matter  presented.  The  one  class  culti 
vate  more  particularly  the  extemporaneous  habit  of  address  ; 
the  other  make  the  most  thorough  preparation,  writing  and 
even  delivering  their  addresses  from  manuscript  or  memory. 
Of  the  first  class,  as  well  as  the  second,  our  country  has  pro 
duced  rare  and  eminent  representatives.  To  the  first  class 
belonged  Clay  and  Webster;  to  the  second,  Seward  and  Sum 
ner.  As  an  orator,  Charles  Sumner  was  distinguished  for  his 
scholarly  habit  of  thought  and  expression.  While  he  culti 
vated  in  composition  and  style  the  chief  graces  of  the  rhetori 
cian,  he  by  no  means  neglected  the  weighty  and  effective 
qualities  of  the  logician.  His  addresws  abound  in  learning 


EULOGY  ON  CHARLES  SUMNER.  165 

of  a  moral,  metaphysical,  theological,  legal,  historical,  and 
classical  character.  The  more  elaborate  ones  are  indeed 
or.ition?,  read  with  the  interest  and  profit  with  which  one  reads 
profound  and  learned  dissertations.  They  are  models  ;  and 
the  time  may  come  when,  like  the  great  speeches  of  the  great 
Greek  orator,  his  will  be  treated  and  studied  as  the  best  pro 
ductions  of  their  class  in  literature. 

In  ardor,  imagination,  occasional  and  exceptional  power, 
Mr.  Sumner  was  by  no  means  as  distinguished  as  Chatham, 
Burke  and  Henry.  In  his  palmy  days,  however,  with  his 
noble  presence,  manly  and  dignified  bearing,  his  delivery  was 
commanding  and  impressive.  Few  persons  in  any  age  or 
country  have  had  such  opportunity  to  make  display  of  rhetor 
ical  power  as  Mr.  Sumner.  The  subject  upon  which  he  made 
his  great  speeches  was  one  challenging  at  once  the  sympathy, 
admiration  and  acceptance  of  the  hearer,  whether  he  ad 
dressed  senates  or  popular  assemblies.  It  was  peculiarly  his 
privilege  to  champion  and  defend  the  cause  of  an  enslaved 
and  outraged  people,  at  a  time  and  in  a  manner  which  made 
him  a  marked  man  at  home  and  abroad,  aroused  against  him  the 
fury  of  the  mob  and  the  blood-thirsty  purpose  of  those  who 
defended  the  slave  oligarchy  in  Congress,  and  gave  him  not 
only  the  Senate  and  his  own  countrymen  as  auditors,  but  the 
civilized  world.  This  fact  is  not  to  be  omitted  in  estimating 
his  power  as  an  orator.  Here  he  was  not  only  sustained,  but 
strengthened  and  developed.  His  audience  was  such  as  no 
orator  had  ever  before.  Herein  he  will  have  no  successor. 

The  writings  of  Mr.  Sumner,  distinguished  as  well  for 
their  rich  and  attractive  style,  their  perspicuous  and  fluent 
diction,  their  learned  and  historic  illustration,  their  beautiful 
and  striking  antithesis,  their  natural  and  lucid  method  as 
the  principles,  the  sentiments,  the  maxims,  explained  and 
enforced  in  appropriate  and  impressive  manner,  must,  like 


166  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

those  of  Webster,  take  high  rank  in  the  classics  of  our  lit 
erature.     In  the  classification   of    his  writings,  they   are 
placed  with  those  of  the  great  masters,  Bacon  and  Burke, 
and  with  the  prose  writings  of  Milton.     The  ability  and 
learning  of  Milton,  Bacon  and  Burke  are  no  more  impressed 
upon  their  writings  than  those  of  Sumner  upon  his ;  nor  are 
the  subjects  considered  by  them  treated  with  greater  skill, 
power,  and  effect.     The  writings  of  each  largely  reflect  the 
advanced  thought,  public  conviction,  and  the  moral,  religious 
and  political  wants  of  his  time,  and  they  are,  therefore,  in 
teresting  and  valuable  historically,  as  well  as  because  of  their 
intrinsic  merit.     Historically,  the  writings  of  Sumner  will 
prove  to  be  of  the  largest  value  :  for  it  will  not  be  denied 
that  his  elaborate  addresses,  which  have  to  do  with  the  anti- 
slavery  movement,  while  they  contain  accurate  and  generous 
sentiments  with  regard  to  justice,  freedom,  and  law — being 
emphatic,  too,  even  as  the  writings  of  the  Hebrew  masters, 
as  to  the  change  and  reformation  to  take  place  in  popular 
judgment  and  purpose — mark,  as  no  other  writings,  the  suc 
cessive  eras  of  the  progress  of  this  movement  toward  con 
summation.  With  his  writings  in  this  regard,  no  book  as  yet 
written,  no  history  of  the  American  anti-slavery  movement, 
is  comparable.     For  this,  if  for  no  other  consideration,  lit 
erary  or   moral,  these  addresses  are  invaluable,  and  will 
always  be  studied  with  the  liveliest  interest.     Our  interest 
in  this  movement,  its  trials,  its  sacrifices,  martyrdoms,  de 
feats,  but  final  glorious  triumphs,  can  never  fail ;  and  so  long 
as  it  animates  our  hearts,  the  words  of  its  most  gifted  advo 
cate  will  be  read  with  undiminished  pleasure.   His  writings, 
though  mainly,  are  by  no  means  entirely  confined  to  anti- 
slavery  subjects.     Moral  and  political  topics,  those  of  law, 
municipal  and   international   finance,    and    literature,    are 
treated  by  him  with  learning  and  grace.    His  works  arevol- 


EULOGY  ON  CHARLES  SUMNEK.  167 

uminous  and  comprehensive,  though  as  yet  unfinished.  They 
are  no  more  distinguished  for  the  variety  of  their  subject- 
matter,  however,  than  the  ability,  learning,  and  wisdom  dis 
played  in  the  treatment. 

As  a  writer,  Mr.  Sumner  is  remarkable  rather  for  talent 
than  genius ;  for  industry  discovered  in  mastering  learning 
than  originality  in  invention  ;  a  scholarly  and  fearless  pre 
sentation  and  vindication  of  self-evident  and  fundamental 
principles  and  truths.  His  writings,  speeches,  letters  and 
addresses,  preserved  and  published  according  to  his  original 
plan,  in  ten  beautiful  volumes,  will  always  be  read,  studied 
and  admired  by  the  student  and  scholar  of  this  and  other 
lands,  as  rich  and  valuable  contributions  to  literature. 

In  native  ability,  in  training  and  general  accomplishment, 
if  confined  to  the  court  and  juridical  labors,  Mr.  Sumner 
would  have  made  one  of  our  most  eminent  and  successful  law 
yers.  Called  early,  however,  from  the  court  to  the  cultivation 
of  letters,  and  thence  to  the  duties  of  Senator  and  political 
leader,  his  reading  and  thoughts  were  given  necessarily  to 
those  broader  and  more  inviting  branches  of  the  law,  which 
have  to  do  with  national  and  international  interests.  His 
reputation,  therefore,  is  not  that  of  a  technical  lawyer;  and, 
yet  he  has  been  both  an  efficient  teacher  and  practitioner. 
He  is  rather  distinguished  for  his  comprehensive  and  accu 
rate  knowledge  of  the  fundamental  principles  and  rules  of 
constitutional  and  international  law,  and  in  connection  with 
his  duties  as  a  Senator  and  in  his  addresses  to  the  people, 
he  furnishes  evidence  of  his  commanding  ability  in  this 
regard. 

Where  the  technical  lawyer  is  ordinarily  weak,  halting, 
hesitating,  doubting,  because  he  finds  no  rule  or  precedent, 
he  was  bold,  fearless  and  aggressive,  feeling  assured  that 
his  advocacy  of  a  particular  measure  or  line  of  policy  would 


168  FEEEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

be  at  last  accepted  by  the  Government  and  people,  because 
sanctioned  by  reason  and  the  spirit  of  the  law.  Hence  he 
always  occupied  advanced  positions  upon  subjects  of  na 
tional  concernment;  and  while  he  aroused,  he  informed  and 
directed  public  conviction.  As  to  our  present  reconstruction 
upon  the  basis  of  equal  freedom,  in  defence  of  all  those 
principles  of  law  and  morals  which  constitute  its  foundation 
and  justification,  he  not  only  demonstrated  large  ability,  but 
large  understanding  of  constitutional  law  and  its  applica 
tion. 

I  may  not  pass,  unnoticed,  in  this  connection,  Mr.  Sum- 
ner's  celebrated  argument  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  Mas 
sachusetts,  in  the  case  of  Sarah  J.  Roberts.  While  this  ar 
gument,  like  all  of  his  speeches,  is  full  of  generous  and  just 
sentiments,  replete  with  learning,  it  is  chiefly  remarkable  for 
its  clear  enunciation,  for  the  first  time  in  our  judicial  legis 
lative  history,  of  the  doctrine  of  "Equality  before  the 
law,"  and  for  its  bold  advocacy  of  equal  and  impartial 
common-school  privileges  for  colored  children.  Speaking  of 
this  argument,  he  once  said  :  "  Upon  it  I  am  willing  to  go 
down  to  posterity."  His  admirers  and  friends  have  noth 
ing  to  fear  as  to  the  verdict  of  posterity  with  regard  to  the 
merits  and  conclusion  of  this  argument. 

To  one  conversant  with  the  writings  of  Mr.  Sumner,  or  who, 
enjoying  personal  acquaintanceship  with  him,  has  listened 
to  his  matchless  words  upon  the  various  topics  of  the  law, 
the  universality  and  exhaustiveness  of  his  attainments  seem 
remarkable.  The  ethics  of  the  law  he  understood  and  cul 
tivated  with  sincerity  and  wisdom.  He  was  profoundly  read 
in  its  biography,  and  entertained  the  liveliest  appreciation  of, 
and  admiration  for,  the  eminent  members  and  ornaments  of 
the  bar. 

Mr.  Sumner  entertained  for  Judge  Story  especially  the 


EULOGY  ON  CHARLES  SUMNEE.  169 

first  writer  on  American  constitutional  law,  his  friend  and 
instructor,  the  highest  respect  and  admiration ;  and  we  may 
quote  his  own  words  here  as  not  only  expressive  of  this 
respect  and  admiration,  but  as  confirmatory  of  the  opinion 
attributed  to  him  with  regard  to  the  eminent  members  of  his 
profession.  He  says,  speaking  of  Judge  Story  :  "  In  genius 
for  the  law,  in  the  exceeding  usefulness  of  his  career,  in  the 
blended  character  of  judge  and  author,  he  cannot  yield  to 
our  time-honored  master,  Lord  Coke;  in  suavity  of  manner 
and  silver-tongued  eloquence,  he  may  compare  with  Lord 
Mansfield,  while  in  depth,  accuracy,  and  variety  of  judicial 
learning,  he  surpassed  him  far;  if  he  yields  to  Lord  Stowell 
in  elegance  of  diction,  he  exceeds  even  his  excellence  in 
curious  explorations  of  the  foundations  of  that  jurisdiction 
which  they  administered  in  common,  and  in  the  develop 
ment  of  those  great  principles  of  public  law,  whose  just 
determination  helps  to  preserve  the  peace  of  nations ;  and 
even  in  the  peculiar  field  illustrated  by  the  long  career  of 
Eldon,  we  find  him  a  familiar  worker,  with  Eldon's  profusion 
of  learning,  and  without  the  perplexity  of  his  doubts.  There 
are  many  who  regard  the  judicial  character  of  the  late  Chief- 
Justice  Marshall  as  unapproachable.  I  revere  his  name,  and 
have  read  his  judgments,  which  seem  like  'pure  reason,'  with 
admiration  and  gratitude,but  I  cannot  disguise  that  even  these 
noble  memorials  must  yield  in  juridical  character,  learning, 
acuteness,  fervor,  variety  of  topics,  as  they  are  far  inferior 
in  amount  to  those  of  our  friend.  There  is  still  spared  to 
us  a  renowned  judge,  at  this  moment  the  unquestioned  living 
head  of  American  jurisprudence,  with  no  rival  near  the  throne 
— Chancello-  Kent — whose  judgments  and  works  always  in 
spired  the  warmest  eulogy  of  the  departed,  and  whose  char 
acter  as  a  jurist  furnishes  the  fittest  parallel  to  his  own  in 
the  annals  of  our  law." 


170  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

The  name  of  Charles  Surnner  deserves  a  conspicuous  place 
among  the  illustrious  names  of  the  American  bar.  There 
we  enroll  it.  By  his  learning,  varied  and  profound,  his 
achievements  (if  not  at  the  bar,  in  the  line  of  the  profes 
sion,)  lasting  and  valuable,  his  devotion  to  the  profession, 
earnest  and  manly,  he  establishes  his  claim  to  such  distinc 
tion. 

His  education,  his  learning,  his  associations,  as  well  as 
his  magnificent  native  endowment,  fitted  him  for  the  arduous 
and  trying  labors  to  which  he  was  called  in  the  United  States 
Senate.  Here  he  was  to  accept  and  perform  the  double 
duty  of  reformer  and  statesman.  His  senatorial  record  testi 
fied  how  well  and  bravely,  even  to  martyrdom,  he  discharged 
the  duty  thus  imposed ;  and  a  grateful  and  free  nation  holds 
in  lasting  remembrance  his  noble  deeds.  In  his  own  words  : 
"Law -givers  are  among  the  greatest  and  most  God-like 
characters.  They  are  reformers  of  nations ;  they  are  build 
ers  of  human  society." 

Whether  we  call  to  mind  his  efforts  at  the  Boston  bar  in 
behalf  of  the  colored  youth ;  his  earnest  testimony  in  favor 
of  equal  rights,  borne  in  his  refusal  to  deliver  a  lecture  be 
fore  a  lyceum  of  New  Bedford,  because  distinction  was 
made  against  colored  persons  on  account  of  their  complexion ; 
his  clear  and  manly  utterances  against  slavery,  from  1845 
to  the  time  he  took  his  seat  in  the  Senate;  or  his  numerous 
able  and  eloquent  speeches  made  in  the  Senate  and  before 
the  people,  from  this  time  till  Kansas  was  saved  to  freedom, 
the  Fugitive-Slave  Law  repealed,  the  rebellion  suppressed, 
slavery  abolished,  the  Southern  States  reconstructed,  the 
Constitution  amended,  the  ballot  given  to  the  colored  Ameri 
can,  his  protection  in  the  enjoyment  of  civil  rights  estab 
lished,  and  the  proposition  made  to  enact  a  supplementary 
Civil  Rights  Bill,  to  secure  full  equality  before  the  law,  we 


EULOGY  ON  CHARLES  SUMNER.  171 

can  but  conclude  that  he  has  shown  himself  the  reformer 
of  the  nation,  the  builder  of  American  society  upon  a  better 
and  a  firmer  foundation  of  justice  and  freedom.  In  his  dis 
interestedness,  courage,  labors,  devotion,  energy,  sufferings 
without  complaint,  and  success  without  inflation,  resentment 
or  abatement  of  purpose  and  zeal,  he  has  certainly  shown 
himself  even  God-like. 

As  a  reformer  and  statesman,  his  mighty  powers  were 
confluent;  and  his  life  in  this  double  character  was  as 
majestic,  beautiful,  and  irresistible  as  the  stream.  Here 
he  found  the  amplest  opportunity  to  make  conspicuous  and 
commanding  display  of  his  peculiar  qualities  of  character; 
his  native  and  acquired  abilities,  his  conscientiousness,  his 
moral  courage,  his  devotion,  his  enthusiasm,  and  his  deter 
mination  to  compromise  in  no  manner  or  form  with  the 
iniquity  and  curse  of  despotism.  What  though  it  cost  cruel 
censure  and  abuse  by  opponents,  sometimes  even  the  sting 
ing  criticism  instead  of  the  commendation  of  friends;  con 
scious  of  rectitude,  keenly  appreciating  his  duty  to  the 
enslaved  and  his  country,  settled  in  his  purpose  to  discharge 
this  duty,  there  was  no  struggle  too  great,  no  labor  too  ardu 
ous  for  him;  like  Paul,  he  was  ready  and  willing  to  die  daily 
for  the  truth. 

His  character  as  a  reformer  was  in  no  sense  narrow.  Like 
his"  character  as  a  statesman,  it  was  formed  after  the  pattern 
of  the  broadest  and  most  beautiful  characters  of  history. 
Before  he  entered  upon  public  life,  before  he  came  even  to 
the  bar,  he  had  read  with  enthusiastic  admiration  the  writ 
ings  of  the  noble  men  whose  triumphs  in  reform  make  glori 
ous  the  history  of  the  race,  and  whose  lives  are  justly 
reckoned  benefactions.  But  more  than  this,  Mr.  Sumner  had 
enjoyed  intimate  association  with  the  able  and  ardent  reform 
ers  of  his  own  and  other  countries,  and  by  such  association  he 


172  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

had  been  inspired  and  largely  fitted  for  the  struggles  which 
awaited  him  in  life.  To  a  noble  nature,  an  intellect  of  supe 
rior  power,  reason,  conscience,  imagination,  sensibility  and 
will,  thoroughly  educated,  alive  and  reliable ;  to  these  mas 
culine  and  vigorous  powers  of  his  soul  he  had  added  that 
wisdom  and  ardor,  courage  and  devotion,  which  such  con 
tact  would  naturally  inspire  and  support.  From  these 
sources  were  poured  into  the  esteem  of  his  great  soul  waters 
clear  and  pure,  which,  while  they  increased  its  volume  and 
current,  bore  up  his  purpose  and  courage,  as  the  Tiber  the 
noble  Horatius ;  while  he  through  trial,  struggle  and  suffer 
ing,  passed  to  victory  and  applause. 

Entering  the  Senate  with  the  slave  oligarchy  the  master 
of  the  land,  American  liberty  itself  tottering  upon  the  brink 
of  its  ruin ;  free  thought,  free  speech,  freedom  of  locomotion 
well-nigh  gone;  with  the  executive,  legislative  and  judicial 
departments  of  the  Government  under  its  control ;  our  State 
legislation  and  policy  largely  inspired  and  directed  in  its 
interest ;  our  most  learned  and  influential  men  in  pulpit  and 
congressional  place,  engaging  themselves,  not  in  the  stern 
and  valorous  work  of  meeting  and  overpowering  this  common 
enemy,  but  in  devising  plans  of  compromise  and  reconcilia 
tion,  he  engaged  with  the  nerve  and  spirit  of  a  gladiator  in 
what  proved  to  him  personally,  and  to  the  nation,  more  than 
a  moral  conflict,  whose  weapons  are  logic,  truth  and  law.  He, 
the  flower  and  glory  of  our  younger  Senators,  as  if  to  teach 
that  American  liberty  itself  must  die,  was  made,  in  open  day, 
and  in  the  Senate,  the  victim  and  martyr  of  •  slaveholding 
madness  and  hate.  Subsequently  the  nation  was  made  to 
pour  out  its  treasure,  and  make  its  costliest  offering — its 
bravest  and  most  beautiful  and  loving  sons — to  save, 
through  blood  and  struggle,  its  priceless  inheritance  of 
union,  government  and  liberty.  From  this  baptism  of  blood 


EULOGY  ON  CHAELES  SUMNER.  173 

grateful  to  Mr.  Sumner,  our  leader  in  the  beginning,  and  the 
last  of  our  great  Senators  permitted  to  remain  in  the  Senate 
to  perfect  the  work  of  our  national  reconstruction,  our  nation 
goes  forth  upon  its  mission  of  civilization  and  freedom,  not 
unmindful  of  him  to  whom  so  much  is  due,  and  to  whom  she 
gives,  in  the  affections  of  her  great  heart,  the  chief  place 
among  the  worthies  whose  names  and  deeds  adorn — cover 
with  the  brightest  glory,  our  reconstruction  in  freedom. 

Macaulay,  in  dwelling  upon  the  labors  of  Milton,  says : 
"  His  public  conduct  was  such  as  was  to  be  expected  from  a 
man  of  a  spirit  so  high  and  an  intellect  so  powerful.  He  lived 
at  one  of  the  most  memorable  eras  in  the  history  of  mankind, 
at  the  very  crisis  of  the  great  conflict  between  Oromasdes 
and  Arimanes  :  liberty  and  despotism,  reason  and  prejudice. 
That  great  battle  was  fought  for  no  single  generation,  for 
no  single  land.  The  destinies  of  the  human  race  were  staked 
on  the  same  cast  with  the  freedom  of  the  English  people. 
Then  were  first  proclaimed  those  mighty  principles,  which 
have  since  worked  their  way  into  the  depths  of  the  Ameri 
can  forests,  which  have  roused  Greece  from  the  slavery  and 
degradation  of  two  thousand  years,  and  which  from  one  end 
of  Europe  to  the  other  have  kindled  unquenchable  fire  in 
the  hearts  of  the  oppressed,  and  loosed  the  knees  of  the  op- 
pressors  with  a  strange  and  unwonted  fear.  Of  these  prin 
ciples,  then  struggling  for  their  infant  existence,  Milton 
was  the  most  devoted  and  eloquent  literary  champion." 

When  these  principles,  struggling  not  for  their  "infant  ex 
istence,"  not  against  kingly  power,  but  for  more  matured  life 
and  broader  and  more  far-reaching  influence,  against  slave- 
holding  insolence  and  usurpation ;  under  other  circumstan 
ces,  at  a  different  time,  in  the  midst  of  more  advanced 
civilization ;  when  the  "American  forests*'  had  been  changed 
into  the  homes  of  intelligent  millions;  when  America  itself, 


174  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

in  its  government  and  law,  its  name  and  power,  bad  become 
to  enthralled  and  struggling  nations  the  promise  and  shield  of 
liberty  and  Christian  progress,  Charles  Sumner,  with  indus 
try  and  wisdom,  by  pen  and  tongue,  proved  himself  not  only 
a  bold  and  daring,  but  sagacious  and  successful  champion 
of  the  cause  of  emancipation;  the  cause  not  only  of  the 
slave,  and  of  his  countrymen,  but  of  civilization  itself.  Nor 
will  the  civilized  world  find  it  either  disagreeable  or  difficult 
to  express  suitably,  and  perpetuate  its  gratitude  and  appre 
ciation  of  his  arduous  and  effective  labors.  His  words,  ad 
dressed  to  Webster  in  his  appeal  to  him  to  be  true  to  free 
dom,  mankind  will  now  apply  to  Mr.  Sumner  himself;  for 
he  was  true  and  fearless,  where  Webster,  faltering  and  fail 
ing,  lost  the  high  encomium  proffered  him. 

"  The  aged  shall  bear  witness  of  you,"  said  Mr.  Sumner. 
"  The  young  shall  kindle  with  rapture  as  they  repeat  the 
name  of  Webster,  and  the  large  company  of  the  ransomed 
shall  teach  their  children,  and  children's  children  to  the  latest 
generation  to  call  you  blessed,  while  all  shall  award  you 
another  title,  not  to  be  forgotten  in  earth  or  heaven — '  De 
fender  of  Humanity.' " 

As  a  statesman,  simply,  without  regard  to  his  character 
of  reformer,  Mr.  Sumner,  by  reason  of  his  display  of  large 
learning,  wisdom,  and  ability,  in  connection  with  the  affairs 
of  State,  must  always  occupy  a  prominent  and  conspicuous 
place  in  the  estimation  of  mankind.  In  intellectual  quali 
ties  and  accomplishments,  the  peer  of  Webster  and  Clay,  he 
was,  in  fixedness  and  elevation  of  purpose,  conscientious 
ness  and  integrity,  their  superior.  The  master  of  the  stand 
ard  works  on  constitutional  and  international  law;  by  taste 
and  choice  the  student  of  that  branch  of  history  and  biog 
raphy  which  furnishes  and  illustrates  the  soundest  philoso 
phy  of  statesmanship;  conversant  not  more  with  the  lives 


EULOGY  ON  CHARLES  SUMNEE.  175 

and  teachings  of  the  statesmen  of  America  than  those  of 
Britain,  France,  Germany,  Italy,  and  the  countries  of  more 
different  antiquity,  he  entered  upon  official  life  with  prepara 
tion  for  service  such  as  no  other  of  his  countrymen  ever 
possessed.  His  public  career,  covering  a  period  of  twenty- 
three  years  in  the  United  States  Senate,  considered  and 
estimated  in  the  light  of  and  according  to  the  usual  and 
ordinary  tests  of  statesmanship,  shows  him  the  prince  of 
our  Senators. 

But  history  will  accord  him  a  higher  honor,  even,  than 
this.  In  his  case  the  reformer  is  linked  and  intertwined  with 
the  statesman;  and  while  he  shall  be  known  as  the  Ameri 
can  Senator,  chiefly  honored  by  his  associates  of  the  august 
body  of  which  he  was  a  member,  as  well  as  by  his  country 
men,  he  was  yet  not  heedless  of  the  sufferings  of  his  fellow- 
men,  nor  insensible  to  the  duty  enjoined  by  justice;  and, 
henceforth  the  world  accords  him  the  title — "  Defender  of 
Humanity." 

It  is  to  be  regretted,  as  well  for  personal  as  other  reasons, 
that  the  last  and  crowning  measure  proposed  and  advocated 
by  Mr.  Sumner  did  not  receive  legislative  sanction  and 
popular  acceptance  before  his  death.  We  may  wisely 
enough  congratulate  ourselves  and  fellow-citizens,  however, 
that  he  was  spared  to  bring  forward  and  explain,  with  such 
fulness  of  statement  and  force  of  argument,  his  "  Supple 
mentary  Civil  Rights  Bill;  "  and  now  there  does  not  remain 
the  least  doubt  as  to  its  passage.  It  is  surprising  that,  a 
measure  so  accordant  with  justice  and  the  fundamental 
teachings  of  the  common  law,  so  harmonious  with  the  prin 
ciples  of  our  Constitution,  and  so  justified  and  supported 
by  considerations  of  sound  public  policy,  was  not  at  once 
incorporated  into  our  municipal  code. 

His  last  day  in  the  Senate  was  made  memorable  by  the 


176  FEEEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

announcement,  through  his  distinguished  colleague,  that  his 
native  State,  the  commonwealth  which  he  loved  so  dearly, 
and  whose  faithful  and  laborious  representative  he  had  been 
so  long,  had  reconsidered  and  revoked  the  resolution  of  cen 
sure  two  years  before  passed  upon  him.  This  was  the  last 
business  to  which  he  gave  attention  in  the  Senate ;  and  all 
certainly  rejoice  that  his  eyes  were  not  closed  till  after  this 
action  of  his  State  had  relieved  and  gladdened  his  heart. 

Of  magnificent  bodily  proportions,  commanding  appear 
ance,  imperial  bearing,  and  imposing  presence,  Mr.  Sumner 
excited  and  attracted  the  admiration  of  all  who  saw  him. 
He  possessed  the  most  vigorous  and  powerful  qualities  of  in 
tellect,  the  sternest  constitutional  integrity,  and  the  largest 
endurance.  From  no  selfish  ambition  did  he  strive  to  secure 
the  fullest  development  and  culture  of  his  large  capacities 
and  powers;  but  in  the  free  and  unstinted  bestowal  of  his 
services  to  advance  the  welfare  of  society,  discovered  the  most 
exalted  spirit  of  benevolence.  In  what  he  refused  to  do.,  no 
less  than  in  what  he  did,  in  private  life  not  less  than  in  pub 
lic,  in  the  less  formal  addresses  which  he  delivered  to  com 
mittees  and  others  waiting  upon  him  in  his  beautiful  home, 
no  less  than  in  his  addresses  in  the  Senate  or  before  the 
people,  his  opinions,  convictions,  and  counsel  were  supported 
by  what  he  deemed  reasonable  and  proper.  There  is  no  fact 
connected  with  his  private  life  which  more  fully  illustrates 
his  keen  sense  of  propriety  and  purity  of  character  than  his 
refusal  to  do  the  least  thing,  to  make  any  effort  whatever 
to  secure  either  the  nomination  or  election  to  the  United 
States  Senate.  To  the  same  purpose  is  the  fact  that  he 
never  expended  a  single  cent,  directly  or  indirectly,  to  se 
cure  political  advancement.  His  preferment,  like  his  great 
ness,  depended  upon  nothing  adventitious;  upon  no  chica 
nery,  intrigue,  or  corruption.  He  was  promoted  upon  his 


EULOGY  ON  CHARLES  SUMNER.  177 

ability  and  fitness ;  and  when  he  came  to  the  Senate,  as  the 
successor  of  the  foremost  of  New  England's  statesmen,  it 
was  found  that  Massachusetts  had  lost  nothing  in  his  elec 
tion,  either  in  dignity  or  ability. 

His  conscientiousness  and  integrity,  like  his  powers  of 
mind,  grew  more  resplendent  as  his  labors  became  more  ar 
duous  and  trying,  even  up  to  the  end  of  his  life.  And  now 
that  he  is  gone,  we  are  reminded  of  a  striking  parallel  in 
Jewish  history.  The  Hebrew  prophet  and  judge,  after  an 
ointing  Saul  king,  justified  his  own  integrity  before  Israel 
in  these  words  :  "  Behold  here  I  am;  witness  against  me  be 
fore  the  Lord,  and  before  His  anointed;  whose  ox  have  I 
taken;  or  whose  ass  have  I  taken;  or  whom  have  I  defrauded ; 
whom  have  I  oppressed  ;  or  of  whose  hand  have  I  received 
any  bribe  to  blind  mine  eyes  therewith,  and  I  will  restore  it 
you."  And  they  said  :  "Thou  hast  not  defrauded  us,  nor 
oppressed  us,  neither  hast  thou  taken  aught  of  any  man's 
hand," 

Such  testimony  and  commendation,  beautiful  and  emphatic, 
the  American  people  bear  to  the  integrity  and  purity  of  the 
departed  Senator.  He  had  no  sordid  view  of  public  duty  or 
official  life.  His  native  sense  of  honor,  his  purity  and  eleva 
tion  of  character,  were,  in  connection  with  the  public  ser 
vice,  exemplified  in  the  most  pleasing  and  admirable  manner. 

Whether  Mr.  Sumner  conversed  with  Emerson  or  advised 
some  humble  colored  youth  where  and  how  to  educate  himself, 
related  his  own  experience  or  dwelt  upon  that  of  others, 
discussed  in  his  own,  or  a  foreign  tongue,  matters  of  national 
or  international  interest,  he  displayed  neither  vanity  nor 
ostentation ;  his  conduct  was  marked  always  in  private  by 
sobriety  and  dignity  of  demeanor,  simplicity  and  humility. 
To  those  who  needed  and  sought  his  counsel,  he  was  by  no 
means  inaccessible.  And  the  number  of  young  colored  per 
sons  who  have  had  their  wavering  purposes  and  sinking 


178  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

spirits  strengthened  and  fired  for  duty  and  struggle  by  his 
tender,  encouraging,  and  eloquent  words,  is  not  small.  His 
services  to  the  colored  race,  great  in  other,  have  not  been  by 
any  means  insignificant  in  this  direction.  The  very  last 
service  of  this  kind  done  by  him  was  in  Behalf  of  a  young 
colored  gentleman,  now  a  student  of  the  law  department  of 
Howard  University. 

It  is  proper  to  state,  too,  that  from  no  other  single  indi 
vidual,  unconnected  with  the  faculty  of  that  department, 
has  it  received  more  valuable  service  than  from  Mr.  Sumner. 
Through  his  influence  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  delivered  to 
the  students  of  the  law  department  an  address  which  carried 
the  name  of  Howard  University  far  around  the  world.  He 
himself,  before  that  time,  had  delivered  the  first  address  ever 
presented  to  a  class  of  young  colored  lawyers  in  our  country, 
at  the  first  commencement  connected  with  the  department. 
In  this  address  he  uses  these  memorable  words,  pregnant 
with  wisdom  and  sound  counsel :  "  I  do  not  doubt  that  every 
denial  of  equal  rights,  whether  in  the  school-room,  the  jury- 
box,  the  public  hotel,  the  steamboat,  or  the  public  conveyance, 
by  land  or  water,  is  contrary  to  the  fundamental  principles 
of  republican  government,  and  therefore  to  the  Constitution 
itself,  which  should  be  corrected  by  the  courts,  if  not  by  Con 
gress.  See  to  it  that  this  is  done.  The  Constitution  does 
not  contain  the  word  «  white; '  who  can  insert  it  in  the  law  ? 
Insist  than  the  common  school,  where  the  child  is  prepared 
for  the  duties  of  manhood,  shall  know  no  discrimination  un 
known  to  the  Constitution.  Insist,  also,  that  the  public  con 
veyances  and  public  hotels,  owing  their  existence  to  law, 
shall  know  no  discrimination  unknown  to  the  Constitution, 
so  that  the  Senator  and  the  Representative  in  Congress,who  is 
the  peer  of  all  at  the  national  capital,  shall  not  be  insulted 
and  degraded  on  the  way  to  his  public  d  -ties.  Insist  upon 
equal  rights  everywhere;  make  others  insist  upon  them. 


EULOGY  ON  CHARLES  SUMNER.  179 

Insist  that  our  institutions  shall  be  brought  into  perfect  har 
mony  with  the  promises  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
which  is  grand  for  its  universality.  I  hold  you  to  this  alle 
giance  :  first,  by  the  race  from  which  you  are  sprung ;  and 
secondly,  by  the  profession  which  you  now  espouse." 

The  mistakes  of  Senator  Sumner,  if  such  he  made,  were 
such  as  only  a  great  man  would  make.  His  faults,  as  well 
as  his  virtues,  demonstrate  the  strength  of  his  character. 
His  faults,  however,  pale  in  the  brightness  and  glory  of  the 
many  virtues  which  distinguish  his  private  and  public  con 
duct.  No  bigot  in  religion,  he  was  poised  and  fixed  in  his 
religious  moorings,  by  faith  in  Christian  truth,  so  that,  in 
Ms  last  hour,  in  the  midst  of  intensest  pain,  without  anxiety 
or  perturbation,  he  could  assure  his  attendants,  "  I  will  soon 
be  at  rest."  To  his  rest  he  has  gone,  bearing  with  him  the 
richest  and  rarest  honors  and  distinctions,  as  scholar  and 
orator,  author  and  lawyer,  reformer,  statesman  and  man. 
His  purposes,  plans  and  labors,  were  commensurate  with  the 
limits  of  his  country,  the  wants  and  highest  good  of  the 
people,  the  requirements  and  behests  of  truth.  If  he  es 
poused  especially  the  cause  and  claims  of  the  colored  Amer 
ican,  to  liberty  and  equality  before  the  law,  it  was  not  that  he 
might  serve  a  class  simply.  He  pleaded  the  Negro's  cause,, 
not  more  in  the  interest  of  the  Negro  than  in  that  of  the 
whole  people.  He  would  elevate,  purify,  and  sustain  in  the 
whole  people  the  best  conviction  and  the  wisest  purpose, 
that  their  highest  and  lasting  good  might  be  attained  and 
preserved.  We  are  all,  therefore,  his  debtors ;  and  his  name 
and  fame,  like  his  words  and  deeds,  are  left  to  the  keeping 
of  no  particular  class — not  even  to  his  countrymen.  Man 
kind  will  claim  him  as  a  benefactor  and  ornament  of  the 
race,  and  the  monument  which  perpetuates  his  name,  in  grand 
proportions,  beauty  of  design  and  grace,  shall  be  built  upon 
enduring,  historical  foundations. 


OUR  PATRIOT  DEAD. 


THE  NOBLE  SPIKITS  WHO  DIED  TO  SAVE  THE 
UNION  AND  PERPETUATE  THE  FREEDOM  OF 
THE  REPUBLIC.* 


COMRADES  :  This  day  our  nation  does  honor  to  her  noble 
dead.  Turning  aside  from  our  ordinary  employments,  it 
is  fit  that  our  fathers  and  mothers,  our  brothers  and  sisters, 
the  young  man  and  maiden,  the  white  and  the  black,  should 
gather  in  the  cemeteries  where  our  dead  heroes  slumber, 
there  to  express  sorrow  and  gratitude,  while  we  honor  their 
memory  and  magnify  their  heroism. 

In  the  war  of  the  Rebellion — a  war  so  costly  to  our  nation 
in  treasure  and  precious  blood — no  discrimination  was  made 
finally  as  to  those  who  were  called  and  rushed  with  life  to 
the  defence  of  our  country  and  its  Union,  with  regard  to  na 
tionality  or  complexion.  Nor  did  age  excuse  itself.  The 
hoary-headed  father  and  the  tender  youth  heard  alike  and 
heeded,  in  thousands  of  instances,  the  bugle  call  to  arms. 
Nor  did  woman  excuse  herself,  for  if  not  clad  in  the  uniform 
of  the  soldier,  and  performing  the  rougher  and  more  danger 
ous  toils  of  field  life,  she  made  herself  "  The  Good  Angel  of 
the  Hospital,"  and  was  not  less  interested  in  the  defeats  or 
victories  that  distinguished  the  cause  of  the  Government 
than  her  sterner  brother. 

In  our  National  Cemeteries  commingle  the  ashes  of  all 

*  An  oration  delirered  at  the  National  Cemetery,  Hampton,  Virginia,  May 
30,  1873. 


OUR  PATRIOT  DEAD.  181 

the  noble  men  who  dared  and  died  in  our  late  war,  sacrific 
ing  life  in  a  manly  and  honorable  discharge  of  duty — dying 
in  answer  to  the  demands  of  intelligent  patriotism ;  and  now 
from  the  battlements  of  their  .heavenly  abodes  they  witness 
and  approve  our  humble  efforts  to  express  our  profound 
gratitude,  our  deep  sorrow,  as  well  as  our  cordial  admiration 
and  lasting  remembrance  of  those  who  thus  died  for  the 
honor,  the  liberty  of  the  country  and  the  perpetuity  of  the 
Government. 

With  no  regard,  therefore,  to  nationality,  without  consid 
eration  of  age  or  sex,  only  glorying  in  the  fact  of  our  citi 
zenship,  let  the  spirit  of  this  occasion  enthuse  and  possess 
our  hearts  and  souls ;  and  going  hence  let  it  be  with  a  new 
devotion  to  our  free  institutions,  our  liberty  and  our  religion, 
determined,  as  our  dead  brothers  have  done,  to  consecrate 
all,  even  life  itself,  to  their  conservation  and  maintenance. 

Gathered  in  this  sacred  place,  in  the  midst  of  these  tender 
and  hallowed  associations,  before  many  of  the  class  once  own 
ers,  before  many  of  the  class  once  slaves,  in  the  presence  of 
many  persons  formerly  residents  of  the  North,  in  the  presence 
of  fellow  Americans  lately  engaged  in  a  deadly  conflict,  on 
the  one  part  struggling  to  maintain  the  Government,  on  the 
other  to  overthrow  it,  and  upon  its  ruins  to  establish  another, 
I  am  admonished,  now,  in  the  days  of  our  victory  and  the 
assurance  of  long  life — indeed  immortality  to  the  Govern 
ment — that  we  can  and  ought  to  inculcate  and  practice  not 
less  the  faith  and  hope  than  the  charity  so  beautifully  de 
scribed  in  the  words  of  St.  Paul,  "  Charity  suffereth  long, 
and  is  kind;  charity  envietli  not;  charity  vaunteth  not  itself, 
is  not  puffed  up,  doth  not  behave  itself  unseemly,  seeketh  not 
her  own,  is  not  easily  provoked,  thinketh  no  evil;  rejoiceth 
not  in  iniquity,  but  rejoiceth  in  the  truth;  beareth  all  things,, 
belie veth  all  things,  hopeth  all  things,  endureth  all  things.' * 


182  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

In  the  words  I  utter  this  day  such  charity  I  would  cultivate. 
For  though  at  the  cost  even  of  our  noblest  and  truest  men, 
having  been  victorious,  as  noble  victors  always  do,  we  can 
well  afford  to  cultivate  the  largest  magnanimity,  and  while 
we  do  not  alienate,  draw  and  attach  to  the  Government,  in 
the  strongest  and  most  lasting  affection,  those  who  but  yester 
day  we  met  upon  the  field  of  bloodiest  conflict.  But  it  is 
only  as  this  charitable  disposition  and  conduct  are  earnestly 
and  intelligently  reciprocated  that  such  desirable  result  can 
be  wisely  expected.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  such  reciprocation 
will  be  thoroughly  and  generally  shown  by  all  classes  of  the 
people. 

In  order  to  appreciate  duly  the  blessings  wrought  through 
the  death  of  our  fallen  heroes  we  may  be  permitted  to  par 
ticularize  somewhat. 

And  first,  through  the  victories  which  their  struggles,  their 
sufferings,  their  sejf-denial  and  their  death  brought  to  the 
country,  we  enjoy  and  hope  to  perpetuate  NATIONAL  UNITY. 
Before  the  war  of  the  Rebellion  our  nation  was  divided  in 
its  great  overshadowing  purpose,  its  judgment,  and  affection. 
The  people  of  the  North,  under  the  influence  of  free  princi 
ples  and  their  devotion  to  the  sentiment  of  liberty  and 
equality,  emancipated  their  slaves,  and  sought  to  establish 
through  the  State  and  the  Federal  Government,  as  for  as  the 
same  could  be  done  constitutionally,  free  institutions.  Hence 
they  opposed  the  spread  of  slavery ;  they  denied  its  legal  ex 
istence  in  the  Territories.  To  all  this  the  people  of  the  South 
were  opposed  ;  and  here  we  find  the  source  of  our  division — 
a  division  not  superficial,  but  fundamental,  affecting  law,  poli 
tics,  religion,  education,  industry,  commerce — indeed,  every 
interest,  State  and  national,  adversely.  Divided  thus  in  our 
purpose,  our  judgment,  and  affection,  it  was  not  strange  that 
eventually  our  differences  culminated  in  a  sectional,  deadly 


OUR  PATRIOT  DEAD.  183 

war.  We  have  now  only  to  rejoice  that  coming  out  of  this 
war  with  victory  crowning  the  endeavors  of  the  Government, 
and  with  slavery,  the  cause  of  this  division,  utterly  over 
thrown,  we  are  one  people,  not  only  in  nationality,  in  terri 
tory  and  Government,  but  in  purpose,  as  we  trust,  in  judgment 
and  affection. 

To-day  the  forty  millions  of  our  population  are  united  in 
the  purpose  to  conserve  and  maintain  American  liberty.  All 
accept  without  difference  of  opinion  the  doctrine  that  freedom 
and  the  exercise  of  political  power  legally  beloog  to  every 
American,  and  our  hearts  are  aglow  with  the  single  sentiment 
of  earnest  and  abiding  love  for  such  liberty  and  freedom.  In 
the  progress  of  our  national  existence  and  institutions  we  have 
reached  that  period  when  we  may  confidently  and  wisely 
adopt  the  words  of  our  eloquent  Webster : 

"  While  the  Union  lasts,  we  have  high,  cxcit  ng,  gratifying 
prospects  spread  out  before  us,  for  us  and  our  children.  Be 
yond  that  I  seek  not  to  penetrate  the  veil.  God  grant  that 
in  my  day,  at  least,  that  curtain  may  not  rise !  God  grant 
that  on  my  vision  never  may  be  opened  what  lies  beyond ! 
When  my  eyes  shall  be  turned  to  behold,  for  the  last  time, 
the  sun  in  heaven,  may  I  not  see  him  shining  on  the  broken 
and  dishonored  fragments  of  a  once  glorious  Union  ;  on  States 
dissevered,  discordant,  belligerent ;  on  a  land  rent  by  civil 
feuds,  or  drenched,  it  may  be,  in  fraternal  blood  !  Let  their 
last  feeble  and  lingering  glance  rather  behold  the  gorgeous 
ensign  of  the  Republic,  now  known  and  honored  throughout 
the  earth,  still  full  high  advanced,  its  armies  and  trophies 
streaming  in  their  original  lustre,  not  a  stripe  erased  or 
polluted,  not  a  single  star  obscured,  bearing  for  its  motto  no 
such  miserable  interrogatory  as  *  What  is  all  this  worth  ?  ' 
nor  those  other  words  of  delusion  and  folly,  *  Liberty  first 
and  Union  afterwards  ;'  but  everywhere,  spread  all  over,  in 
characters  of  living  light,  blazing  on  all  its  ample  folds  as 
they  float  over  the  sea  and  over  the  land,  and  in  every  wind 
under  the  whole  heavens,  that  other  sentiment,  dear  to  every 
true  American  heart :  '  Liberty  and  Union,  now  and  forever, 
•one  and  inseparable  1 ' ' 


184  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

Our  orator  had  not  rightly  estimated  the  influence  of  slav 
ery,  the  unyielding  purpose  of  the  friends  of  freedom  against 
its  encroachments,  when  he  gave  utterances  to  those  match 
less  words.  But  the  struggle  has  come  ;  the  legions  of  free 
dom  and  slavery  have  met;  the  desperate  fight  is  over; 
freedom  has  again  won  a  glorious  victory,  and  henceforth  in 
our  regenerated  country  there  can  be  no  national  strife; 
Americans  will  not  again  imbue  their  hands  in-  each  other's 
blood,  in  a  treasonable  attempt  to  overthrow  the  Government 
and  dismember  the  Union. 

I  am  not  unmindful  of  considerations  of  a  material  char 
acter,  commercial  and  otherwise,  which  might  be  urg^d  in 
favor  of  the  importance  and  permanence  of  our  Union. 

These,  however,  now  as  well  as  those  of  a  moral  and  politi 
cal  character,  the  latter  especially,  conspire  to  make  our 
Union  lasting. 

Our  Union  is  assured  mainly,  however,  in  the  unity  of  our 
national  convictions  our  patriotic  sentiments. 

But  national  unity  would  not  only  be  impossible,  it  would 
be  largely  valueless  without  national  freedom ;  for,  as  the 
poet  has  said,  "  Tis  liberty  that  gives  to  life  its  lustre  and 
perfume." 

Our  freedom  does  not  mean  simple  emancipation,  mere  re 
lease  of  body,  self-ownership  or  freedom  of  locomotion.  It 
is  all  of  these,  but  far  more  beside.  It  is  the  enjoyment  of 
free  thought,  free  speech,  citizenship,  the  ballot ;  but  above 
all  the  opportunity  to  rise  and  achieve,  thereby  Becoming 
great  and  influential  among  our  countrymen,  to  cultivate  all 
those  things  which  periain  to  dignified  life,  and  the  highest 
interest  of  our  country.  That  we  may  rightly  estimate  this 
great  blessing  that  the  noble  men  whose  graves  we  would  this 
-tfay  cover  with  the  sweetest  flowers  died  to  bring  to  our  coun 
trymen,  we  must  recollect  that  just  anterior  to  the  war  there 


0 UR  PATRIO T  DEAD.  185 

was  no  freedom,  no  free  thought,  no  free  speech,  no  freedom 
of  locomotion  enjoyed  in  full  measure  by  the  American  pao- 
ple.  Indeed  American  liberty  itself  had  well-nigh  gone, 
*' glimmering  through  the  dream  of  things  that  were,  a  school 
boy's  tale,  the  wonder  of  an  hour."  But  to-day  the  sun  in 
the  heavens  is  not  more  bright  and  glorious,  its  light  and 
heat  more  lovely  and  life-giving  than  the  sun  of  liberty  in 
our  moral  sky,  which,  shining  with  a  new  heat  and  a  new 
lustre,  is  to  us  the  source  of  our  civil  and  political  life  and 
happiness,  in  which  we  delight  ourselves  and  fear  no  molesta 
tion. 

Libsrty,  however,  is  nothing  more  than  license,  a  thing  of 
caprice,  without  present  or  permanent  value,  without  Law 
as  its  shield  and  protection  ;  and  we  should  emphasize  the 
important  and  valuable  blessing  brought  us  through  the  war, 
in  which  so  many  of  our  sons,  brothers,  and  fathers  fell — the 
«qual  and  all  protecting  law,  beyond  whose  care  we  cannot 
go,  however  distant,  or  devious,  or  hidden  our  route. 

Where  the  brava  man  slumber  and  sleep,  who  dying  pur 
chased  for  us  liberty  regulated  and  defended  by  law — 

"  'Tis  holy  ground. 
This  spot  where,  in  their  graves, 
We  place  our  country's  braves, 
Who  fell  in  freedom's  holy  cause, 
Fighting  for  liberties  and  laws  ; 
Let  tears  abound." 

But  more  than  national  unity,  freedom  and  law  regulating 
it,  was  given  the  nation  through  the  bloody  struggles  of  the 
rebellion.  We  were  given  a  free  Christianity,  an  unmuzzled 
and  fearless  clergy,  and  now  we  may  hope  that  the  day  is 
not  distant  when  such  reform  will  have  taken  place  in  the 
country  as  to  insure  the  practice  of  sound  morality  among 
all  classes  of  the  people  and  in  all  branches  and  depart 
ments  of  the  Government.  Thus  the  highest  interests  of  the 


186  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

people  will  be  conserved,  good  order  maintained,  and  civili 
zation  advanced.  Indeed  already  we  are  realizing  these 
pleasing  and  beneficial  results.  Accepting  these  benefits, 
brought  us  in  the  providence  of  our  Heavenly  Father,  through 
the  suffering  and  the  death  of  those  whom  we  this  day  honor, 
it  is  our  duty  to  prove  ourselves  wise  and  faithful  custodians 
thereof,  and  as  far  as  possible  make  them  of  the  largest  ad 
vantage  to  ourselves  and  posterity.  Indeed — 

"  Such  graves  as  these  are  hallowed  shrines, 

Shrines  to  no  code  or  creed  confined  ; 
The  Delphian  vales,  the  Palestines, 
The  Meccas  of  the  mind." 

If  what  has  already  been  said  and  indicated  be  true  the 
dead  whose  memories  we  revere,  and  whose  patriotic  and 
heroic  deeds  we  would  celebrate,  fought  and  fell  to  save  and 
perpetuate  our  Government  and  free  institutions,  to  save  and 
reconsecrate  and  sanctify  the  doctrines  of  our  Declaration 
and  Constitution,  to  emancipate  and  introduce  into  the  body- 
politic,  as  citizens  and  voters,  office  holders  and  equals,  per 
sons  formerly  held  as  slaves  in  our  country.  Therefore,  to 
day  we  are  one  nation,  possessing  a  common  country,  enjoy- 
ing  our  freedom,  our  jberty,  and  rights  under  the  protection 
of  a  Government  whose  destiny  we  believe  is  high  and  glori 
ous.  But  the  life  of  our  Government  is  only  assured  as  the 
sentiment  and  purpose  which  brings  us  here  to-day  animate 
our  souls,  and  stimulate  and  sustain  our  devotion  to  liberal 
principles. 

The  history  of  our  country  is  distinguished  for  three  lead 
ing  wars,  the  Revolutionary  War,  the  War  of  1812,  and  the 
war  of  the  late  Rebellion.  We  would  honor  the  dead  of  all 
these  wars,  for  they  were  all  waged  in  the  interest  of  our 
country,  to  secure  its  independence,  to  maintain  its  interests 
and  its  liberties,  the  union  and  the  majesty  of  the  law.  We 


OUR  PATRIOT  DEAD.  187 

would  honor  the  memory  of  Washington  ;  we  would  suitably 
appreciate  the  achievements  of  Jackson  ;  we  would  not  fail  to 
hold  in  constant  remembrance,  and  cherish  with  grateful 
hearts  the  masterly  and  noble  efforts  of  the  great  leaders 
who  gave  victory  to  our  arms  in  the  fearful  struggle  of  the 
Rebellion.  Standing,  as  we  do  this  day,  in  this  cemetery,  in 
the  presence  of  more  than  five  thousand  graves,  calling  to 
mind,  too,  the  thousands  of  other  graves  in  the  presence  of 
which  this  day  the  American  people  assemble  themselves  to 
honor  the  dead,  recollecting  what  sacrifices,  what  sufferings, 
what  courage  and  Spartan  heroism  these  noble  dead  endured 
and  displayed,  one  would  erect  to  their  memory  a  monument, 
whose  base  should  be  broader  than  this  vast  cemetery,  whose 
summit  should  pierce  the  very  stars,  and  all  over  whose  s*des 
should  be  written,  in  characters  never  to  be  effaced,  the  his 
tory  of  their  achievements,  their  valor,  their  fidelity  and  their 
patriotic  devotion. 

If  such  monument  may  not  be  erected,  let  our  ceme 
teries,  in  which  the  patriotic  dead  of  the  war  of  the  Rebel 
lion  slumber,  be  indeed  national  gardens,  in  which  are  grown 
from  the  ashes  of  the  fallen  those  sentiments  of  patriotism, 
liberty,  law  and  union,  which  should  fire  the  heart  and 
energize  and  nerve  the  purpose  of  the  faithful  and  earnest 
American.  The  words  of  the  poet  are  apt : 

"Here  let  them  rest ; 
And  summer's  heat  and  winter's  cold 
Shall  glow  and  freeze  above  the  mold — 
A  thousand  years  shall  pass  away— 
A  nation  still  shall  mourn  this  clay, 

Which  now  is  blest." 


OTJB  POLITICAL  PARTIES. 


THE  REPUBLICAN  AND  DEMOCRATIC  PARTIES 
COMPARED  IN  THEIR  ADMINISTRATIONS  OF  THE 
GOVERNMENT.* 


FELLOW-CITIZENS  :  The  political  parties  of  the  country 
have  held  their  conventions,  defined  their  positions,  and 
made  and  announced  their  nominations.  The  voters  of  the 
Country  are  now  called  upon  to  make  their  choice.  Choice 
here  is  free ;  and  voters  are  only  bound  and  restricted  by 
those  considerations  of  sound  policy  and  patriotism  which 
justly  define  and  limit  their  obligation  and  duty.  Perhaps 
never  in  the  history  of  our  country,  a  history  distinguished 
in  its  more  memorable  parts  for  the  establishment  of  free 
institutions,  was  there  a  time  when  the  duty  of  the  Ameri 
can  voter,  to  consider  well  and  wisely  what  vote  to  cast,  what 
party  to  bring  and  support  in  power,  was  so  imperative  as  in 
this  centennial  year  of  our  national  independence. 

The  earlier  days  of  the  Republic  are  distinguished  for 
noble  and  heroic  deeds,  for  self-denial  and  sacrifices  made 
and  performed  in  its  behalf.  Then  our  foe  was  a  foreign  and 
open  one.  Within  the  past  fifteen  years  a  domestic  foe  has 
with  organized  forces  met  the  Government  in  deadly  conflict, 
upon  a  bloody  field;  and  vanquished,  has,  in  fact,  brought 
forth  "  works  meet  for  repentance "  as  evidence  of  cordial 
acceptance  of  the  new  condition  of  affairs.  This  domestic 

*  A  speech  delivered  in  Saratoga,  N.  Y.,  April  l,  1876. 


CUE  POLITICAL  PARTIES.  189 

foe  when  defeated  made  its  threat,  relying  upon  one  of  the 
great  political  parties  of  the  country  for  its  support  in  carry 
ing  it  out,  that  though  whipped  in  the  field,  it  would  yet 
prove  itself  victor  in  politics.  Shall  the  sacrifices  of  these 
latter  days  go  for  naught  ?  Have  our  brave  men  died  in 
vain  ?  Are  the  burdens  of  the  nation  to  prove  no  warning 
for  our  good  ?  Are  the  monuments  of  devastation  and  ruin 
casting  their  dark  shadows  over  one  section  of  our  country 
to  teach  us  no  useful  lessons  of  admonition?  These  questions 
are  answered  in  the  affirmative  or  negative,  wisely  or  fool 
ishly,  as  we  sustain  by  our  vote  the  one  or  the  other  party. 
But  in  considering  and  determining  our  duty  as  voters,  we 
ought  to  rise  above  mere  partisan  devotion.  We  ought  to 
remember  that  party  is  but  a  means,  an  instrument  used  to 
gain  some  special  or  general  political  end.  The  end  sought, 
the  results  .to  be  accomplished  must  be  fully  considered  in 
determining  the  character  of  the  party  and  our  duty  to  sup 
port,  or  refuse  to  support  it.  The  language  of  its  declaration 
of  principles,  the  past  character  of  its  nominees  and  their 
protestations  of  loyalty  to  past  records,  will  not  always  suf 
fice  to  satisfy  us  of  its  and  their  trustworthiness.  We  are 
required  often  to  seek  after  the  reputation  of  the  party,  and 
the  probable  associations,  and  party  and  individual  obliga 
tions  of  the  candidates  after  their  election.  And  in  dis 
charging  our  duty  in  this  regard,  while  we  are  fearless  we 
should  be  impartial  and  just.  Let  us  not  make  haste  to 
condemn  unduly,  nor  to  accept  without  wise  discrimination, 
the  claim  of  any  candidate  or  party. 

With  such  feelings  as  I  indicate,  with  a  lively  sense  of  our 
responsibility  as  American  citizens  and  voters,  where  does 
duty  lead  us  in  the  exercise  of  our  suffrages,  to  the  Demo 
cratic  or  the  Republican  party  ? 

In  discussing  this  question  there  are  two  things  we  cannot 

t 


190  FEEEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

separate  in  our  minds.  Indeed  we  ought  not  to  separate 
them.  We  cannot  separate  the  party  and  its  candidate ;  and 
we  cannot  deny  that  the  party  being  the  larger  and  more  im 
portant  moral  force,  gives  character  and  aim  to  its  candidates, 
and  not  the  candidates  to  the  party.  The  party  is  the  prin 
cipal,  the  candidate  the  agents  ;  the  latter  the  servants,  the 
former  the  masters.  These  considerations  should  be  empha 
sized,  since  the  representatives  and  advocates  of  one  of  our 
political  parties,  conceding  the  bad  eminence  of  their  party, 
invite,  with  some  degree  of  earnestness  and  eloquence,  the  at 
tention  of  the  people  to  the  towering  ability  and  good  name 
of  their  chief  candidate.  They  even  call  him  "reformer ;" 
forgetting  that  when  elected  he  can  only  accomplish,  in  his 
adminiitration  of  the  Government,  those  results,  however  able 
and  excellent  he  may  be,  which  his  party  and  its  leaders  will 
allow.  We  have  in  our  political  history  an  interesting  chap 
ter,  which  illustrates  with  special  force  this  eubject  and  the 
judgment  of  the  people  with  regard  thereto.  You  will  recol 
lect  that  only  so  far  back  as  1872,  in  our  last  presidential 
campaign,  the  Democratic  party,  despairing  of  being  able  to 
find  a  candidate  among  its  own  leaders,  though  many  of  them 
were  distinguished  for  learning  and  personal  integrity,  nom 
inated  an  old,  earnest  abolitionist,  a  man  distinguished  as 
able,  great  and  good,  whose  life  is  brilliant  and  beautiful 
in  its  triumphs,  as  their  candidate  for  the  Presidency.  But 
Horace  Greeley,  supported  by  the  intellectual  giants  of  the 
Republic,  Sumner  and  Schurz,  in  a  strange  and  unnatural 
alliance  with  the  Liberal  Republican  movement,  was  unable  to 
impart  to  the  Democratic  party  such  good  name  and  influ. 
ence  as  to  induce  the  people  to  give  it  their  confidence  and 
support.  Protracted  and  aggravated  recreancy  to  principle, 
the  obligations  of  patriotism  and  loyalty,  the  influence  and 
warnings  of  party  experiences  in  our  own  and  other  coun- 


OUR  POLITICAL  PARTIES.  191 

tries,  are  not  soon  forgotten  nor  easily  forgiven.  Nor  do 
individual  names,  pouring  by  contrast  floods  of  light  upon 
party  shortcomings,  "sins  of  omission  and  commission,"  serve 
to  eclipse  and  obscure  them.  No  intelligent  and  honest 
American,  in  the  light  of  Greeley's  example,  the  elaborate 
and  able  addresses  of  Sumner,  the  learned  and  thrilling  de 
nunciations  of  Schurz,  could  in  1872  consent  to  vote  the 
Democratic  ticket.  This  party  has  made  no  change  in  doc 
trine  or  purpose  as  we  are  advised,  and  if  we  are  to  judge  of 
its  future  by  its  past,  of  its  probable  cour»e  from  the  charac 
ter  of  its  chief  men,  North  and  South,  from  the  character  of 
the  section  of  the  country  whence  come  its  members  and 
sympathy  mainly,  its  principles  as  enunciated  and  expounded 
in  the  addresses  of  its  orators,  the  significant  insinuations  and 
allusions  to  its  past  dignity  and  acts,  we  can  but  conclude  that 
this  party  still  stands  super  vias  antiques.  Every  American 
citizen,  every  individual  intent  upon  justice  and  fur-dealing, 
intelligent  and  impartial  in  his  judgment,  will  recognize  the 
justness  of  the  criterion  here  implied.  Whatever  the  names 
of  its  candidates,  whatever  their  past  political  relations,  what, 
ever  their  social  position  or  their  reputation  as  honorable, 
sincere,  and  upright  men,  the  party,  in  principle,  in  purpose, 
and  aim,  is  the  same.  What  it  has  been  and  what  it  is,  and 
what  spirit  animates  it,  we  can  determine  from  its  opposition 
to  those  measures  of  reform — reform  in  the  true  and  best  sense, 
progress  and  advancement  in  all  those  things  which  pertain 
to  national  goodness  and  greatness — inaugurated  and  sus. 
tained  by  the  Republican  party  whose  nominations  we  meet 
to  ratify. 

On  the  4th  day  of  March,  1861,  Abraham  Lincoln,  the 
first  chief  magistrate  elected  by  the  suffrages  of ^the  Repub. 
lican  voters  of  the  country,  took  the  oath  of  officejprescribed 
by  the  Constitution  and  entered  upon  the  administration  of 


192  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

the  Government.  Quite  sixteen  years  have  elapsed  since 
that  time,  and  our  country  and  Government  have  passed  an 
ordeal  of  trial,  our  institutions  a  test  and  strain,  such  as  the 
history  of  the  world  cannot  parallel.  During  this  entire 
period  the  Republican  party  has  been  in  power  and  held 
justly  responsible  for  the  judicious  and  efficient  conduct  of 
the  Government.  During  this  period  the  achievements  of  the 
party  have  been  in  their  character  and  scope  magnificent 
and  marvelous.  These  achievements  very  naturally  group 
themselres  under  distinct  designations. 

First.  Those  which  are  in  a  moral  and  legal  sense  reform 
atory  in  their  character.  And  here  we  may  hang,  as  it  were 
upon  a  chain  of  gold  in  glowing  beauty,  all  those  which 
pertain  to  the  abolition  of  slavery,  the  reconstruction  of  the 
seceded  States,  and  the  protection  therein  against  rebel  hate 
and  violence,  of  all  loyal  classes,  white  and  black. 

Secondly.  Those  acts  which  are  war-like,  haying  to  do 
with  that  bloody  and  costly  contest  between  the  slave  oli 
garchy  and  the  Government,  in  which  the  former,  after  years 
of  aggression  and  encroachment  upon  the  rights  of  the  peo 
ple,  was  forever  overthrown  and  the  authority  of  the  latter 
established,  and  is  now  honored  in  all  sections  of  the  coun 
try. 

Thirdly.  Our  immense  fiscal  transactions,  including  the 
finances,  the  currency  and  the  banking  system  of  the 
Government. 

Fourthly.  Those  which  concern  our  internal  improve 
ments,  the  protection  of  immigrants,  the  encouragement  of 
labor,  and  the  advancement  of  education  and  science.  The 
single  great  work  of  building  the  Pacific  Railroad,  the  iron 
band  which  unites  in  a  cordial  and  perpetual  embrace  the 
East  and  the  West,  must  ever  command  the  admiration  and 
challenge  the  gratitude  of  the  people. 


OUR  POLITICAL  PAETIES.  '  193 

Fifthly.  Those  efforts  of  the  Government  which  concern 
our  relations  with  foreign  powers,  especially  the  establish 
ment  of  the  peaceful  method  of  arbitration  for  the  settle 
ment  of  international  differences. 

If  we  consider  the  obstructions,  the  hindrances  overcome 
by  the  Government  in  seeking  the  accomplishment  of  such 
results,  it  will  be  found  that,  difficult  as  the  task  itself  was, 
the  chief  source  of  difficulty  was  found  in  the  persistent  and 
sometimes  cruel  opposition  of  the  Democratic  party  and  its 
leaders.  Their  severe  and  exaggerating  criticisms,  their 
inimical  comments,  show  the  depth  of  their  opposition  and 
its  pertinacity. 

If  the  financial,  the  legal,  the  moral,  the  material  and  the 
industrial  reforms  of  the.  Republican  party  are  of  value  and 
deserve  to  be  maintained,  the  Democratic  party,  if  our  judg 
ment  be  correct,  must  not  be  brought  as  yet  in  power ;  for 
it's  success  is  their  overthrow,  and  their  overthrow  a  lasting 
damage  to  the  country. 

The  country  may  be  very  justly  felicitated  upon  the  abil 
ity  and  efficiency  with  which  the  affairs  of  the  Government 
generally  have  been  administered  by  the  party  now  in 
power;  but  we  find  cause  of  special  congratulation  in  the 
fact  that  marked  wisdom,  integrity  and  success  have  char 
acterized  the  collection  and  disbursement  of  the  public 
funds.  One  has  only  to  become  conversant  with  the  im 
mense  receipts  and  expenditures  of  the  Government,  made 
necessary  largely  by  the  suppression  of  the  late  rebellion, 
uaint  himself  with  the  thoroughness  and  promptness 
generally  with  which  the  revenues  of  all  sorts  are  collected 
and  the  comparatively  small  loss  connected  with  the  ex 
penditure  thereof,  to  appreciate  the  statement  just  made. 
In  illustration  and  enforcement  of  it,  I  adduce  two  fact*,  one 
showing  how  and  to  what  extent  the  public  debt  has  been 


194  FEEEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

reduced  to  the  date  named,  and  the  other  the  loss  upon  the 
expenditures  of  the  Government  for  the  time  mentioned. 
And  first,  the  public  debt  had  reached  its  highest  figure 
June  30,  1866,  when  it  amounted  to  $2,773,236,173.69. 
Since  then  the  revenues  of  the  nation  have  exceeded  the 
expenditures,  leaving  a  balance  each  year  for  the  redemp 
tion  of  the  public  d«bt.  From  June  30,  1866,  to  June  30, 
1875,  the  public  debt  has  been  reduced  $599,711,641.74. 
This  reduction  has  taken  place  in  the  face  of  reduced  taxa 
tion.  Under  the  acts  of  Congress  dated  July  13,  1866, 
March  2,  1867,  February  3,  1868,  March  1  and  July  20, 
1868,  July  14,  1870,  May  1  and  June  6,  1872,  the  internal 
revenue  taxation  has  been  reduced  from  its  highest  point  in 
1866,  $309,226,813.42,  to  $110,007,493.58,  June  30,  1875. 
In  this  reduction  of  the  public  debt,  and  this  descending 
scale  of  taxation,  we  have  at  a  single  glance  the  policy  of 
the  administration  to  maintain  the  public  credit,  and  at  the 
same  time  lighten  the  burdens  of  the  people. 

In  a  statement  showing  the  receipts  and  disbursements  of 
the  Government  from  January  1,  1834,  to  June  30,  1875,  ex 
hibiting  also  the  amount  of  defalcations  and  the  ratio  of 
losses  per  $1,000  to  the  aggregate  received  and  disbursed, 
arranged  in  periods,  as  nearly  as  practicable,  of  four  years 
each,  and  also  in  the  periods  prior  and  subsequent  to  June 
30,  1861,  prepared  under  the  direction  of  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  it  is  shown  that  from  July  1, 1861,  to  June  30, 
1875,  the  gross  total  of  receipts  being  $12,709,645,059.91, 
and  the  gross  total  of  losses  being  $4,348,098.10,  the  loss  on 
$1,000  was  34  cents,  while  the  gross  total  of  disbursements, 
exclusive  of  the  post-office,  being  from  July  1,  1861,  to  June 
30,  1875,  $12,566,892,569.53,  and  the  gross  total  of  losses 
19,905,205.37,  the  loss  on  $1,000  was  78  cents. 

From  January  1,  1834,  to  June  30,  1861,  the  gross  total 


OVE  POLITICAL  PAETIES.  195 

of  receipts  being  $1,390,986,145.18,  and  the  gross  total  of 
losses  being  $2,907,527.31,  the  loss  on  $1,000  was  $2.09, 
while  the  gross  total  of  disbursements,  exclusive  of  the  post- 
office,  being  from  January  1,  1834,  to  June  30, 1861,  $1,369,- 
977,502.52,  and  the  gross  total  of  losses  being  $12,361,722.91, 
the  loss  on  $1,000  was  $9.02. 

Senator  Anthony,  on  the  28th  of  last  June,  in  remarks 
made  by  him  to  the  Senate,  makes  this  statement1:  "The 
losses  on  the  $1,000  of  disbursements  were,  in  the  adminis 
tration  of  Jackson,  $10.55;  Van  Buren,  $21.15;  Harrison, 
$10.37;  Polk,  $8.34;  Taylor  and  Fillmore,  $7.64;  Pierce 
$5.86;  Buchanan,  nearly  $6.98;  Lincoln,  $1.41;  Johnson 
48  cents ;  Grant,  the  first  four  years,  40  cents ;  the  second 
four  years,  26  cents — showing  a  constant  decline,  which  is 
owing  in  a  large  degree  to  the  improved  manner  of  keeping 
the  accounts ;  and  this  is  due  very  largely  to  the  committees 
on  finance  and  appropriations,  who  have  introduced  legisla 
tion  which  has  compelled  much  greater  accuracy  and  respon- 
libility.  The  average  percentage  of  losses  during  this  whole 
period  on  the  disbursements  is  $1.59  on  the  thousand.  I  do 
not  believe  that  the  aggregate  of  any  class  of  corporate  or 
private  business,  banking,  commercial,  or  any  other  kind,  can 
show  so  small  a  percentage  of  loss  as  this,  and  it  is  gratifying 
that  the  percentage  of  loss  is  continually  decreasing,  coming 
down  from  $21.15  in  the  administration  cf  Van  Buren,  to  an 
average  of  twenty-three  cents  on  the  thousand  dollars,  or 
only  about  one-sixtieth  as  much  under  the  present  adminis 
tration.  This  is  exclusive  of  the  post-office,  which  adminis 
ters  its  own  revenue.  In  the  post-office  the  loss  has  gone 
down  from  $11.18  on  the  $1,000,  in  Jackson's  administration, 
and  $26.19  in  Van  Buren's,  to  $1.59  for  the  first  term  of 
Grant,  and  $1.01  for  the  second,  with  an  average  of  $3.51 
for  the  whole  period." 


196  FBEEDON  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

As  expressive  of  my  own  feelings  and  opinions  on  this  sub 
ject,  I  adopt  the  apt  and  forcible  words  of  a  writer,  who  §ays  : 
"  We  have  endeavored  to  show,  by  the  statements  submitted, 
the  magnitude  of  the  financial  operations  of  the  Government 
during  fifteen  years  of  Republican  rule.  They  may  be  safely 
held  up  as  being  without  a  parallel  in  our  history,  if  not  in 
the  history  of  nations.  To  carry  on  these  operations  through 
a  long  series  of  years,  without  infringing  upon  the  constitu. 
tional  rights  of  a  single  citizen,  or  without  oppressing  the 
industrial  interests  of  the  country,  has  required  the  highest 
degree  of  administrative  and  legislative  talent,  and  the  highest 
order  of  executive  integrity.  It  should  be  borne  in  mind 
that  these  heavy  financial  responsibilities  were  forced  upon 
the  country  by  treasonable  Democracy  and  that  the  part  per 
formed  by  the  Republican  party  was  simply  the  execution  of 
an  imperative  duty  which  it  owed  to  the  Union,  to  freedom, 
to  humanity  and  to  the  world's  civilization.  With  these 
figures  before  us,  with  a  clear  remembrance  of  those  terrible 
years  of  sacrifice  and  suffering,  when  the  hopes  of  the  nation 
centered  in  the  courage  and  patriotism  of  the  Republican 
party,  with  at  least  $150,000,000  of  yearly  expenditures  to 
remind  us  of  a  party  that  betrayed  the  nation,  and  with  a 
burdensome  public  debt,  which  a  loyal  people  are  nobly  bear, 
ing,  who  that  loves  his  country  or  wishes  to  see  it  continue 
in  the  paths  of  peace  and  prosperity  can  give  his  vote  or  influ 
ence  to  the  support  of  a  party  that  stands  to-day  as  responsi 
ble  for  the  Rebellion,  as  it  did  when  its  recognized  head, 
James  Buchanan,  folded  his  arms  and  gave  it  the  sanction  of 
his  official  encouragement,  by  the  admission  that  he  had  no 
power  to  coerce. 

The  executive,  legislative  and  administrative  ability,  sa 
gacity  and  efficiency  of  the  Republican  party  are  no  more 
demonstrated  in  the  wise  conduct  of  our  financial  affairs  than 


OUE  POLITICAL  PARTIES.  197 

in  the  establishment  of  a  national  currency  reliable,  if  fluc 
tuating,  abundant  and  of  universal  and  uniform  value 
throughout  the  country.  Founded  upon  the  integrity  and 
credit  of  the  nation  our  currency  may  be  regarded  as  ab 
solutely  safe.  And  according  to  recent  and  reliable  estimate 
its  circulation  per  capita  amounts  to  $18.33.  It  only  remains 
to  provide  for  the  redemption  in  coin  or  its  equivalent  and 
our  system  of  currency  will  be  as  wise  and  safe  as  any  the 
ingenuity  of  man  has  devised.  To  the  accomplishment  of 
this  result  without  shock  or  damage  to  our  business  interests, 
the  Republican  parLy  is  pledged  as  against  Democratic  infla 
tion. 

The  charge  that  business  stagnation  in  the  country,  the 
seeming  paralysis  of  our  great  industries,  is  attributable  to 
the  character  of  our  currency  as  unreliable  and  scarce  finds 
no  foundation  in  fact.  Money  was  never  so  abundant  and 
it  is  a  thousand  times  more  reliable  than  under  the  old  State- 
bank  system.  According  to  reports  made  to  the  Comptroller 
of  the  Currency,  May  12,  1876,  the  aggregate  resources  of 
2,089  national  banks  amount  to  $1,793,306,002.78.  And 
as  we  all  understand,  no  matter  how  poorly  a  national  bank 
may  be  managed,  it  may  even  fail,  but  no  holder  of  its  notes 
loses  a  single  dollar,  for  its  issues  are  secured  by  a  deposit 
of  United  States  bonds. 

Our  business  depression  must  be  accounted  for  upon  some 
other  hypothesis.  It  is  largely,  if  not  mainly,  due  to  the 
two-fold  cause :  first  the  persistent  and  violent  criticisms  of 
many  of  the  leaders  of  the  Democratic  party ;  and  secondly  ^ 
the  fear  that  that  party  may  come  into  power,  and  if  so  that 
it  would  upturn  and  revolutionize  our  system  of  currency. 
Such  considerations,  however  absurb  and  baseless  the  criti 
cisms  may  be,  and  however  improbable  it  may  be  that  the 
Democratic  party  will  be  given  soon  the  control  of^the 


198  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

Government,  have  the  most  disastrous  effects  upon  business 
enterprises.  How  can  this  cause  of  evil  be  removed  ?  Not 
by  putting  in  power  the  party  responsible  for  its  existence. 
Only  by  sustaining  that  party  which  has  established  this 
system,  and  now  promises  to  improve  it  by  making  our  cur 
rency  redeemable  in  coin  or  its  equivalent  and  at  a  day 
fixed  and  not  distant. 

Imperfect  as  any  description  of  the  achievements  and 
triumphs  of  the  Republican  party  may  be,  enough  has  been 
said  to  demonstrate  its  claim  upon  public  sympathy  and 
support.  Its  maintenance  of  the  national  credit,  its  defence 
and  support  of  the  national  honor  and  the  national  integrity, 
entitle  it  specially  to  gratitude  and  the  admiration  of  the 
country.  This  party  has  countenanced  no  executive,  con 
gressional  or  official  acts  which  tarnish  the  good  name  of 
the  nation. 

The  guaranty,  therefore,  that  the  promises  and  pledges 
of  the  Republican  party  will  be  kept  and  redeemed,  if  con 
tinued  and  sustained  in  power,  is  written  in  the  plainest 
and  boldest  manner  in  the  record  of  its  past  accomplish 
ments. 

But  how  about  the  Democratic  party?  It  has  a  record, 
and  its  promises  and  pledges  as  presented  in  the  St.  Louis 
platform  are  manifold,  being  embodied  in  language  which 
sounds  much  like  the  sonorous  periods  of  a  Fourth  of  July 
oration. 

After  the  use  of  the  word  "reform"  some  fifteen  times  in 
the  platform  as  applied  to  the  administration  of  the  Federal 
Government,  the  Union  eleven  years  ago  happily  rescued 
from  the  danger  of  a  corrupt  centralism,  a  sound  currency, 
the  sum  and  mode  of  Federal  taxation,  the  profligate  waste 
of  public  lands,  the  omissions  of  the  Republican  Congress, 
and  the  errors  of  our  treaties  and  our  diplomacy,  reform  as 


OUE  POLITICAL  PARTIES.  199 

a  controlling  issue  of  the  election  necessary  in  the  civil,  the 
higher  grades  of  public  service,  and  the  declaration  that  the 
abuses,  wrongs  and  crimes  described — the  product  of  six 
teen  years'  ascendancy  of  the  Republican  party — create  a 
necessity  for  reform,  and  that  this  can  only  be  had  by  a 
peaceful  revolution,  the  platform  closes  in  these  words  :  "We 
demand  a  change  of  system,  a  change  of  administration,  a 
change  of  parties,  that  we  may  have  a  change  of  members 
and  of  men." 

It  becomes  us  to  inquire  and  to  know  what  such  words 
mean  before  giving  our  support  to  the  party  using  them. 
Their  meaning  is  partially  discovered  in  the  opposition 
offered  to  the  measure  brought  forward  and  adopted  by  the 
Republican  party.  It  is  more  fully  and  clearly  discovered 
in  the  light  of  past  declarations  of  the  party  and  one  of  its 
chief  and  more  prominent  leaders  of  former  days. 

On  the  4th  day'of  March,  1829,  Andrew  Jackson  was 
inaugurated  President  of  the  United  States,  and  in  his  inau 
gural  address  presented  his  purposes  as  to  reform  in  these 
words  :  "  The  recent  demonstration  of  the  public  sentiment 
inscribe  on  the  list  of  executive  duties,  in  characters  too 
legible  to  be  overlooked,  the  task  of  reform;  which  will 
require,  particularly,  the  correction  of  those  abuses  that 
have  brought  the  patronage  of  the  Federal  Government  into 
conflict  with  the  freedom  of  elections,  and  the  counteraction 
of  those  causes  which  have  disturbed  the  rightful  course  of 
appointment,  and  have  placed  or  continued  power  in  un 
faithful  or  incompetent  hands." 

His  removal  from  office  for  political  reasons  simply,  may 
be  characterized  as  wholesale  with  him — "To  the  victors 
belong  the  spoils" — and  upon  this  principle  he  distributed 
official  patronage.  Hitherto  the  number  of  persons  removed 
from  office  by  his  predecessors  was  small.  Washington 


200  FEEEDOH  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

removed  in  eight  years  9,  one  a  defaulter;  John  Adams  in 
four  years  10,  one  a  defaulter;  Jefferson  in  eight  years  39; 
Madison  in  eight  years  9,  of  which  6  were  for  cause ;  John 
Quincy  Adams  in  four  years  2,  both  for  cause. 

Reform,  then,  in  the  light  of  Jackson's- example,  as  far  as 
it  is  applied  by  Democrats  to  the  civil  service,  means,  it  is 
to  be  feared,  wholesale  removal  and  appointment  for  mere 
political  reasons. 

Admitting  that  the  party  in  power  is  responsible  for  the 
proper  management  of  the  Government,  that  it  is  wise  and 
safe  as  a  general  rule  to  make  selections  for  positions  in  the 
crvil  as  well  as  the  higheif  grades  of  public  service  when 
needed  from  its  supporters,  that  such  supporters  have  the 
first  and  more  imperative  claim  to  its  official  patronage, 
other  things  being  equal,  it  must,  nevertheless,  be  conceded 
that  respect  should  be  had  always  to  the  capacity,  fidelity 
and  honesty  of  the  applicant  or  appointee.  Party  zeal, 
party  services,  party  advancement  should  not  be  allowed  to 
outweigh  the  more  important  considerations  of  qualification 
and  fitness  for  the  proper  performance  of  public  duty. 

But  a  change  of  system,  a  change  of  parties,  that  we  may 
have  a  change  of  men  and  members^  is  demanded.  This  de 
mand  is  certainly  fundamental;  it  is  radical;  and  what  it 
means  is  a  matter  of  concern  to  every  voter.  Does  it  mean 
retrocession— that  we  are  to  go  back  to  our  national  position 
and  condition  in  1861  when  the  Democratic  party  went  out 
of  power?  Does  it  mean  that  new  men  and  new  members, 
with  anti-republican  views  and  purposes,  according  to  other 
systems  of  political,  financial,  legal,  economic  and  social 
philosophy,  are  to  pronounce  the  works  of  the  Republican 
party  for  the  past  sixteen  years  a  failure,  and  attempt  some 
thing  new?  Does  it  mean  that  Democratic  as  opposed  to 
Republican  reconstruction  is  to  be  tried?  What  else  can 


OUE  POLITICAL  PARTIES.  201 

be  its  meaning?  The  Democratic  party  would  write  across 
the  sixteen  years  of  Republican  abministration  of  the  Gov 
ernment  the  appalling  word,  Failure  !  How  futile  !  How 
insane  the  attempt !  The  work  of  the  party  is  vital ;  its 
results  are  too  deeply  appreciated  by  the  people  for  such 
attempt  to  succeed. 

On  reading  the  Democratic  platform  you  will  find  what, 
under  the  circumstances,  is  a  most  remarkable  omission. 
No  protection  is  promised  to  the  loyal  citizens,  white  and 
black,  of  the  South.  "The  rapacity  of  carpet-bag'tyrannies," 
as  many  other  things,  is  denounced ;  no  guaranty,  however, 
of  protection  to  the  loyal,  even  though  not  carpet-baggers, 
can  be  found  in  their  platform.  Though  this  be  considered 
natural  in  the  Democratic  party,  it  is,  while  it  pretends  to 
accept  the  Constitution  with  the  amendments  as  a  final  set 
tlement  of  the  controversies  which  engendered  civil  war,  very 
remarkable.  I  think  it  may  be  deemed  significant.  Does 
it  not  mean  that  as  far  as  the  party  is  concerned,  if  given 
power,  the  loyal  people  of  the  South  will  be  compelled  to 
look  thereafter  for  protection  to  the  several  State  govern 
ments  under  which  they  live? 

As  bearing  on  this  subject  the  language  of  the  platform 
is  full  of  meaning  : 

"Reform  is  necessary  to  rebuild  and  establish  in  the 
hearts  of  the  whole  people  the  Union  eleven  years  ago  hap 
pily  rescued  from  the  danger  of  a  corrupt  centralism,  which, 
after  inflicting  upon  ten  States  the  rapacity  of  carpet-bag 
tyrannies,  has  honeycombed  the  offices  of  the  Federal  Gov 
ernment  itself  with  incapacity,  waste  and  fraud." 

No  party  is  worthy  of  our  support  whose  record  is  not 
clear,  whose  voice  is  not  positive  as  to  the  matter'of  protec 
tion  to  -every  American  citizen  at  home  and  abroad ;  espe 
cially  at  home ;  for,  if  there  is  any  place  where  the  citizen 
should  realize  that  he  is  safe,  free  from  fear  of  disturbance, 
M 


202  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

as  to  life,  property  or  freedom,  it  is  within  the'  limits  of  Mi 
own  country  and  under  the  government  to  which  he  owes 
and  pays  his  allegiance.  Should  the  State  fail  to  give  such 
protection,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  General  Government  to  give 
it.  If  this  be  centralism — the  centralism  denounced  by  the 
Democratic  platform — I  denounce  their  denunciation  of  it, 
and  proclaim  it  sound  law. 

If  the  Democratic  party  mean  to  accept  heartily  the 
amendments  of  the  Constitution  and  the  reconstruction  of 
the  seceded  States  in  accordance  therewith,  it  will,  it  must 
recognize  the  obligation  of  the  Government  to  protect  de 
fenceless  and  inoffensive  citizens  against  violence  and  abuse, 
certainly  when  the  maltreatment  becomes  murder  and  the 
State  government  is  either  impotent,  or  in  the  hands  of  those 
who  will  not  wield  its  power,  to  protect  its  citizens.  The 
language  of  the  amendments  implies  this  obligation  of  the 
Federal  Government ;  and  if  the  reconstruction  of  the  States 
is  to  be  sustained,  in  its  integrity,  the  pledge  of  such  pro 
tection  and  its  practical  redemption  are  indispensable. 

On  this  matter  there  can  be  no  theorizing.  It  is  one  of 
immediate  and  pressing  importance.  It  is  feared  that  the 
canvass  upon  which  we  are  now  entering  cannot  be  conduct 
ed  to  its  close  peaceably,  and  the  loyal  citizens  of  the  South 
permitted  to  exercise  fully  their  political  powers.  Shall 
such  citizens  be  protected  against  threats  and  intimidations, 
bloodshed  and  murder?  Our  hearts  sicken  even  now  at  the 
horrid  disorders,  crimes  and  murders  so  lately  reported  as 
occurring  in  Hamburg,  South  Carolina. 

The  utterance  of  the  Republican  party  with  regard  to  pro 
tection  is  clear  and  comprehensive.  The  third  section  of 
its  platform  reads  as  follows  : 

"The  permanent  pacification  of  the  Southern  section  of 
the  "Union,  the  complete  protection  of  all  its  citizens  in  the 


OUR  POLITICAL  PARTIES.  203 

free  enjoyment  of  all  their  rights,  are  duties  to  which  the 
Republican  party  is  sacredly  pledged.  The  power  to  provide 
for  the  enforcement  of  the  principles  embodied  in  the  recent 
constitutional  amendments  is  vested  by  those  amendments  in 
the  Congress  of  the  United  St  ites,and  we  declare  it  to  be  the 
solemn  obligation  of  the  legislative  and  executive  depart 
ments  of  the  Government  to  put  into  immediate  and  vigorous 
exercise  all  their  constitutional  powers  for  removing  any 
just  causes  of  discontent  on  the  part  of  any  class,  and  securing 
to  every  American  citizen  complete  liberty  and  exact  equal 
ity  in  the  exercise  of  all  civil,  political  and  public  rights. 
To  this  end  we  imperatively  demand  a  Congress  and  Chief 
Executive  whose  courage  and  fidelity  to  these  duties  shall  not 
falter  until  these  results  are  placed  beyond  dispute  or  recall.'7 

As  one  reads  the  platform  of  the  Democratic  party,  calling 
to  mind  its  declarations  of  sentiments  in  1852,  and  since 
that  time,  both  by  the  things  said,  the  peculiar  language 
employed,  and  by  the  things  omitted  and  the  apparent  reason 
for  the  omission,  he  can  but  conclude  that  the  charge  made 
by  the  Republican  against  the  Democratic  party  when  it  uses 
the  following  words,  is  just: 

"We  charge  the  Democratic  party  as  being  the  same  in 
character  and  spirit  as  when  it  sympathized  with  treason, 
and  with  making  its  control  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
the  triumph  and  opportunity  of  the  nation's  recent  foes ;  with 
reasserting  and  applauding  in  the  national  capitol  the  senti 
ments  of  unrepeuted  rebellion;  with  sending  Union  soldiers 
to  the  rear;  with  deliberately  proposing  to  repudiate  the 
plighted  faith  of  the  Government ;  with  being  equally  false 
and  imbecile  upon  the  overshadowing  financial  question;  with 
thwarting  the  ends  of  justice  by  its  partisan  mismanagement 
and  obstruction  of  investigation  ;  with  proving  itself  through 
the  period  of  its  ascendancy  in  the  lower  House  of  Congress 
utterly  incompetent  to  administer  the  Government.  We  warn 
the  country  against  trusting  a  party  thus  alike  unworthy,  re 
creant  and  incapable." 

If  what  has  been  said  of  the  Democratic  party,  what  is 


204  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

inferred  from  its  present  utterances  in  the  light  of  its  past,  j 
from  suspicious  omissions  noticed  in  connection  with  the  § 
platform  be  true,  it  is  hardly  worth  while  to  spend  much  time  i 
in  considering  the  character  of  its  candidates.  Having  de-  1 
termined  the  character  of  the  party  it  is  an  easy  matter  to  | 
decide  what  the  candidates  must  be,  and  what  they  must  do.  | 

Whether  Governor  Tilden  is  a  good  man  or  a  bad  one,  able 
or  weak,  of  large  general  and  executive  talent,  of  broad  and   : 
varied  official  experience,  his  term  of  executive  control  as  the  ..; 
Governor  of  New  York  marked  by  efficiency  and  success,  are 
all  matters  of  small  account  as  compared  with  the  questions  1 
what  his  party  is  and  what  it  would  do  were  it  in  power. 

I  would  not  disparage,  I  would  not  even  speak  lightly,  cer 
tainly  not  disrespectfully  of  the  Governor  of  our  Empire 
State.  I  prefer  to  concede  his  ability  and  sincerity.  He  is 
therefore  the  more  dangerous  as  the  representative  of  the 
Democratic  party  in  power.  A  man  of  less  ability,  of  less 
skill  and  purpose,  would  do  far  less  injury.  Here  I  assume 
that  the  party  controls  its  servants,  commanding  and  com 
pelling  their  obedience.  Every  consideration  of  candor  and 
propriety  leads  us  to  believe  also  that  the  principles  and 
policy  of  the  Democratic  party  are  fully  and  earnestly  ac 
cepted  by  its  candidates,  and  if  elected  such  candidates  will 
spare  no  reasonable  effort  to  give  effect  to  those  principles — 
to  have  the  policy  of  the  party  adopted  in  obedience  to  its 
desire  and  command. 

All  this  is  equally  true  of  the  candidates  of  the  Republican 
party ;  and  because  the  principles  and  the  policy  of  this  party 
are,  as  I  believe,  true  and  correct,  and  the  highest  interests 
of  the  country  will  be  subserved  by  their  adoption,  I  rejoice, 
asjou  must  rejoice,  that  the  party  has  put  in  nomination  for 
President  and  Vice-President  two  able  and  good  men.  These 
men  have  not  been  slow  in  accepting  their  nominations  and 


OUR  POLITICAL  PARTIES.  205 

in  announcing  their  views  in  their  letters  of  acceptance. 
They  are  men  well  known,  of  large  experience  in  public  af 
fairs,  and  perfectly  conversant  with  all  those  things  which 
pertain  to  the  wise,  economical  and  efficient  administration 
of  the  National  Government.  In  their  letters  of  acceptance 
their  indorsement  of  the  principles  of  the  party  is  natural 
and  cordial ;  and  their  discussion  respecting  them,  so  compre 
hensive  and  masterly,  displaying  such  familiarity  with  the 
necessity  of  their  application  that  no  one  can  question  their 
conscientious  approval  of  them.  Indeed  Governor  Hayes,  in 
his  letter,  in  brief,  terse,  yet  elaborate  terms,  dwells  with  such 
force  and  clearness  upon  the  reform  in  the  civil  service,  com 
batting  the  sentiment  "to  the  victors  belong  the  spoils,"  and 
commending  the  rule  that  "  honesty,  capacity,  and  fidelity 
constitute  the  only  qualifications  for  office" — upon  the  re 
sumption  of  specie  payments,  maintaining  that  "uncertainty, 
inseparable  from  an"  irredeemable  paper  currency,"  can  be 
ended  only  by  such  resumption  upon  a  constitutional  amend 
ment  ;  "  which  shall  place  beyond  all  danger  of  sectarian  con 
trol  or  interference  "  our  public  school  system,  claiming  that 
"  the  Republican  party  is  pledged  to  secure  such  amendment;" 
upon  the  condition  of  the  South,  asserting  that  what,  it 
"most  needs  is  *  peace,'  and  peace  depends  upon  the  supremacy 
of  law,"  and  that  the  first  necessity  of  the  people  there  "  is 
an  intelligent  and  honest  administration  of  the  Government 
which  will  protect  all  classes  of  citizens  in  all  their  political 
and  private  rights  " — that  no  one  can  mistake  his  judgment 
and  purpose,  and  no  one,  not  even  an  opponent,  can  fail  to 
appreciate  and  commend  his  earnsstness  and  candor.  If 
elected  we  cannot  doubt  the  course  which  he  will  pursue. 

His  record  as  a  brave  and  gallant  soldier  and  officer  of 
the  Union  army,  as  a  Republican  tried  in  the  walks  of  con 
gressional  life,  and  as  Governor  of  Ohio,  to  the  last  position 


206  FEEEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

having  been  elected  three  times,  and  each  time  against  the 
most  formidable  opposition;  as  a  lawyer  and  scholar  of  con 
siderable  experience  and  honorable  name,  demonstrates  his 
capacity,  his  fidelity  and  his  honesty.  Did  we  need  ad 
ditional  evidence  of  his  self-reliance,  moral  courage  and  de 
termination,  his  purpose  to  discharge  fully  and  wisely  the 
promises  and  obligations  of  the  party  against  all  opposition, 
and  his  ability  to  conduct  the  administration  of  the  Govern 
ment  with  efficiency  and  success  in  the  interest,  in  fact,  of 
all  the  people  and  every  section  of  the,  country,  we  have  it 
in  his  letter.  But  if  we  study  well  his  speeches,  his 
messages  written  during  his  different  administrations  as 
governor  of  one  of  the  greatest  and  most  thrifty  States  of 
our  Union,  the  principles  accepted  and  advocated  by  him 
before  the  people  in  his  several  campaigns,  and  subsequent 
ly  enforced  as  elements  of  sound  State  policy,  we  shall  dis 
cover  the  secret  of  that  power  which,  wielded  by  a  master, 
showed  its  possessor  more  then  a  match  for  Pendleton, 
Thurman  and  Allen.  In  well-informed  circles  these  are 
called  great  men.  Why  not,  in  the  view  of  all  he  has  done 
and  is,  call  Hayes  a  great  man?  I  will;  and  the  people  in 
their  vote  will  very  soon  announce  their  judgment  on  this 
subject.  No  charge  of  corruption  is  made  against  our  can 
didates.  No  man,  however  blinded  by  partisan  feeling  and 
prejudice,  questions  their  integrity,  Their  public,  like  their 
private  character,  is  free  from  stain  or  tarnish.  They  need, 
in  this  regard,  no  defence. 

Attack,  however,  is  made  upon  the  present  administration 
of  the  party.  It  is  charged  that  it  is  inefficient,  wasteful,  cor 
rupt,  and  oppressive.  The  fact  that  a  prominent  official 
connected  therewith  has  been  found  perpetrating  acts  of 
malfeasance  in  office-^-others  of  lesser  prominence  have  been 
tried,  convicted,  sentenced  and  are  now  undergoing  the 


OUR  POLITICAL  PARTIES.  207 

punishment  of  the  law — while  the  charge  of  fraudulent 
pratices  has  been  made  against  certain  leading  Republican 
Members  of  Congress,  and  others  holding  no  official  posi 
tions,  or  such  as  are  altogether  subordinate,  are  adduced  as 
proof  positive  and  sufficient  that  this  statement  is  true- 
And,  then,  the  conclusion  is  reached  per  saltum,  that  the 
Republican  party  should  be  driven  from  power  and  the 
Democratic  party  installed.  But  admitting  that  these  state 
ments  and  charges  are  true,  are  we  prepared  to  say  that 
the  administration  of  the  National  Government  should  be 
given  to  the  Democratic  party?  In  view  of  what  this  party 
is  and  what  it  has  been;  in  view  of  what  it  proposes  to  do, 
as  well  as  what  it  proposes  to  leave  undone,  our  answer 
must  be  no.  R3forms  needed  in  the  administration,  in 
the  various  branches  of  the  Government,  are  much  more 
likely  to  be  made  by  the  Republican  party,  without  violence 
or  damage  to  the  c&untry,  in  its  financial,  commercial, 
industrial,  political,  and  general  interests,  in  obedience  to 
a  healthy  public  sentiment,  than  through  the  opposing  politi 
cal  organization  ;  for  the  very  evils  against  which  we 
would  guard  were  introduced,  fostered  and  sustained  by  that 
party. 

It  is  due  the  present  administration  to  state  that  it  has, 
in  no  instance,  when  just  complaint  has  been  made,  failed 
to  take  vigorous  and  positive  steps  against  offenders — those 
breaking  law  or  neglecting  or  violating  official  obligations. 
And  this  the  administration  has  done  in  obedience  to  the 
comprehensive  and  poignant  order  of  its  chief,  "Let  no 
guilty  person  escape." 

But  the  administration  of  President  Grant  is  not  legiti 
mately  on  trial  before  the  people;  for  he  is  not  the  nominee 
of  the  Republican  party.  If  it  were,  it  would  need  no  special 
and  laborious  defense.  Its  record  in  the  main  compares 


208  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

favorably  with  any  administration  which  has  preceded  it; 
while,  in  many  respects,  it  is  peculiar  and  matchless.  .  It 
will  soon  take  its  place  in  the  history  of  the  country,  and  an 
impartial  posterity  will  render  it  that  award  of  commenda 
tion,  on  the  whole,  to  which  its  merits  entitle  it. 

Already  I  have  trespassed  too  greatly  upon  your  patience, 
and  I  must  conclude  my  remarks.  In  doing  so  I  would  re 
mind  you  that  the  contest  upon  which  we  are  entering  is  not 
one  of  personal  or  party  success  merely.  It  is  one  of  deep 
er,  broader,  more  far-reaching,  important  and  dignified  char 
acter.  Treating  individuals  and  parties  now  as  of  small 
consequence,  excepting  as  they  are  used  as  means  and  instru 
mentalities  to  accomplish  great  ends  of  private  and  public 
goods,  we  are  called  upon  as  intelligent  and  earnest,  patriotic 
and  devoted  citizens,  to  determine,  each  for  himself,  how 
votes,  given  for  the  Democratic  or  Republican  party,  will 
tend  to  sustain  the  Democratic  or  Republican  party,  will 
tend  to  sustain  the  dignity  and  power  of  the  Government, 
conserve  our  free  institutions,  under  the  Constitution,  within 
the  Union.  Each  of  us  is  held  responsible  to  his  own  con 
science,  posterity  and  God  for  the  wisdom,  or  folly,  display 
ed  in  exercising  our  suffrage ;  the  most  sacred  as  it  is  the 
most  valuable  right  which  we  poss2ss  on  American  soil.  In 
such  spirit  I  present  and  here  I  leave  this  subject. 


PACIFIC  RECONSTRUCTION. 

THE  OTHER  PHASE  OF  RECONSTRUCTION  -PACIFI 
CATION"  THE  TRUE  POLICY.* 


FELLOW  CITIZENS:  The  thoughtful  and  patriotic  American, 
animated  by  other  than  partisan  and  sectional  consideration* 
and  feelings,  turns  with  delight  from  the  contemplation  of  the 
belligerent  to  the  pacific  phase  of  reconstruction. 

Four  years  of  bloody  contest,  characterized  by  all  the  evil& 
attendant  in  the  most  aggravated  form  upon  a  civil  strife  of 
gigantic  proportions,  and  twelve  years  of  effort  at  reconcil 
iation  and  readjustment,  marked  by  displays  of  cruel,  unre 
strained  fury,  controlled  only  by  military  power,  bring  us,  in 
all  earnestness  of  soul,  to  inquire :  "Is  there  no  method  by 
which  the  problem  of  reconstruction  may  be  satisfactorily 
solved  in  some  peaceful  manner  ?'' 

Rising  above  party  considerations,  seeming  sectional  inter 
ests,  as  well  as  individual  aggrandizement,  we  should  study 
well  every  lesson  of  history,  every  lesson  suggested  by  the 
precepts  of  Christianity,  every  lesson  taught  in  sound  politi 
cal  philosophy,  having  reference  to  this  problem,  which  of  all 
others  commands  consideration  and  intelligent  solution. 

In  this  discussion  we  have  to  do  with  one  of  the  important 
sections  of  our  country  ;  one  divided  into  great  States,  popu 
lated  by  millions  of  people,  peculiar  not  less  in  their  present 
than  in  their  former  condition  and  relations. 

*  Speech  delivered  at  Congregational  Tabernacle,  Jersey  City,  N  J.,  April 
17,  1877. 


210  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

Sixteen  years  ago  there  were  three  distinct  classes  compos 
ing  the  population  of  the  South  ;  the  first,  the  slaveholding 
class,  the  lords  of  the  land  and  the  lash  ;  the  next,  the  class 
known  as  the  "poor  whites,"  the  under  grade  of  Southern 
society ;  and  thirdly,  the  Negroes,  slaves,  chattels  personal. 
The  first  class  were  not  only  the  owners  of  the  wealth,  but 
they  possessed  the  education  and  the  intelligence,  the  social 
and  political  influence  of  their  various  communities.  From 
this  class  came,  as  well  the  old  political  leaders,  as  the  mili 
tary  chieftains,  who  led  the  rank  and  file  of  the  Southern 
army  in  the  late  rebellion.  From  this  class,  too,  came  the 
purpose  and  the  energy  which  at  once  originated  and  sustained 
the  revolt  against  the  Government,  and  the  attempt  to  or 
ganize  the  Southern  Confederacy.  If  any  single  class  may 
be  called  the  "  master  class  "  of  the  South,  occupying  com 
manding  place,  and  wielding  controlling  influence  in  the 
politics  of  that  section,  that  class  is  the  one  of  which  I  now 
speak.  Deprived  by  the  war  largely  of  its  property,  its  num 
bers  considerably  reduced  by  the  same  cause,  its  compact  and 
easily  moved  organization  not  a  little  impaired,  disappearing 
from  politics  for  several  years  during  the  earlier  period  of 
reconstruction,  within  the  past  two  or  three  years  it  has  ral 
lied,  reorganized,  assumed  again  political  control,  and  once 
more  promises  to  dominate  the  entire  section,  Louisiana 
and  South  Carolina  seem  just  now  passing  from  Republican 
control  to  that  of  this  particular  class.  The  latest  Republican 
Governors,  more  learned,  more  efficient,  more  distinguished 
for  exalted  elements  of  personal  character  and  statesmanship, 
surrender  to  the  more  commanding  political  and  moral  power 
of  this  class.  Chamberlain  gives  place  to  Hampton,  and 
Packard,  it  is  thought,  must  surrender  to  Nichols  ! 

The  poor  whites,  in  the  days  of  slavery,  cherished  no  love 
for  the  class  of  which  I  have  spoken,  and  the  latter  had  even 


PACIFIC  EECONSTE  UCTION.  211 

greater  affection  for  the  slave  than  fur  the  poor  white.  But 
things  have  changed.  The  poor  white,  called  to  the  army 
as  a  common  soldier,  was  taught  that  the  white  men  of  the 
South,  rich  .and  poor,  had  a  common  cause,  for  which  they 
were  called  to  struggle,  to  suffer,  and  to  die,  if  need  were, 
against  the  encroachments  of  a  usurping  and  tyrannical 
Federal  Government.  He  was  taught  to  admire,  and  to  love 
even,  that  class  which  furnished  the  daring  and  dashing 
leader,  who  commanded  those  forces  which  went  out  to  do 
battle  gallantly  in  defence  of  this  common  cause.  No  poor 
white  man  of  the  South  fails  to-day  to  entertain  and  express 
high  admiration  for  Lee,  "Stonewall "  Jackson,  Johnston,  and 
Hood.  United,  then,  in  admiration  of  their  leaders,  political 
and  military,  and  devoted  to  a  common  cause,  which  they 
hold,  if  one  may  judge  by  their  words  and  deeds,  as  dear  as 
life,  there  is  a  bond  of  sympathy  and  union  existing  between 
them  which  is  as  firm  and  abiding  as  the  cause  which  they 
love  and  would  conserve.  Thus  far,  neither  the  offers  of 
peaceful  reconstruction  nor  the  menace  of  armed  efforts  at 
readjustment  have,  as  yet,«reaehed  and  subdued  these  classes, 
united  in  such  common  sympathy  and  purpose. 

Of  the  Negroes,  formerly  slaves,  loyal  to  the  Government 
at  all  times  and  under  the  most  trying  circumstances,  Repub 
lican,  not  only  by  instinct,  but  from  considerations  of  self- 
preservation  as  well  as  patriotism,  the  loftiest  words  of  com 
mendation  may  be  spoken  without  fear  of  overstatement  in 
their  behalf.  Emancipated,  made  citizens,  given  civil  rights, 
and  political  powers,  and  the  opportunity  to  rise  officially  to 
the  highest  place  in  the  gift  of  any  Republican  majority,  they 
have,  in  the  main,  shown  themselves  moderate  and  manly  in 
their  behavior.  It  was  natural  for  them  not  to  follow  the 
leadership  of  the  white  classes  referred  to ;  while  it  was,  on 
the  other  hand,  natural  for  them  to  follow  the  leadership  of 


212  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

that  other  class,  the  new-comer  from  the  North,  added  to  the 
Southern  population  by  the  war,  contemptuously  called  "  The 
Carpet-Bagger  ;"  for  this  class  came  as  the  representative  of 
that  sentiment  and  power  which  made  them  free  and  promised 
their  enfranchisement  and  protection  ;  bringing  them  schools 
and  books;  to  their  more  nee  ly,  food  and  clothing;  and  every 
where  showing  himself  the  friend  of  that  power,  so  ill  defined 
to  the  Negro  intellect,  which  had  brought  the  goodly  things 
of  freedom  and  equal  rights  to  him  who  was  formerly  a 
slave. 

Following  the  leadership  of  this  class  the  Negro  as  natural 
ly  allied  himself  to  the  Republican  party  as  the  old  master 
class  did  to  the  Democratic  ;  and  here  commenced  that  gulf 
of  difference  which  has  continued  to  widen,  as  reconstruc 
tion  has  been  fixed  by  constitutional  enactment  and  indorsed 
by  the  public  sentiment  of  the  country. 

Of  course  the  Republican  immigrant,  American  by  birth 
and  education,  reared  in  the  midst  of  free  institutions,  and 
taught  to  value  manhood,  freedom  afld  equal  rights,  obedient 
to  law,  and  yet  tenacious  of  every  right,  privilege,  and  im 
munity  belonging  to  him,  conceding  nothing  but  what  he 
demanded,  and  demanding  nothing  but  what  he  conceded, 
— I  say  it  was  impossible  for  such  class  to  locate  in  the 
South,  surrounded  by  the  newly-emancipated  and  enfran 
chised  Negro,  without  becoming  political  leaders  and  repre 
sentative  characters  in  the  work  of  reconstruction.  Their 
influence,  of  course,  while  it  tended  to  enlighten  the  Negro 
and  establish  him  in  his  freedom,  tended  to  draw  him  away 
from  the  control  of  the  classes  in  the  midst  of  whom  he  had 
lived,  -been  enslaved,  and  served,  to  those  who  came  as  the 
representatives  of  freedom  and  conservators  of  the  Republi 
can  party. 

It  did  not  improve  the  feeling  of  the  defeated  classes  of 


PACIFIC  RECONSTRUCTION.  213 

the  South  to  contemplate,  at  first,  the  amendments  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  which  not  only  established 
the  freedom  of  the  slave,  but  established  his  citizenship 
beyond  question,  and  putting  into  his  hands  the  ballot  made 
him  the  politica  equal  of  his  former  owner.  Objecting  not 
only  to  the  law,  but  to  that  practice  und 
made  it  intolerable,  the  former  master  class  became  greatly 
exasperated,  and  resolving,  if  possible,  to  overcome  this 
condition  of  things,  organized  bands  of  "White-liners,"  "Kn^ 
Klux,"  and  "  Bull-dozers,"  and  entered  upon  that  systematic 
warfare  upon  Republicans,  white  and  colored,  which,  result 
ing  in  violence,  intimidation  and  murder,  has  necessitated 
the  use  of  the  army  to  maintain  the  peace,  and  protect  the 
loyal  people  of  the  South  against  that  domestic  violence, 
which  at  times  seemed  to  threaten  utter  destruction,  inter 
fering  even  with  legislatures,  and  disturbing  the  operations 
of  the  Government. 

This  condition  of  things  has  continued  from  1865,  grow 
ing  rapidly  worse,  up  to  and  through  the  last  presidential 
canvass,  and  seemingly,  culminating  in  the  massacres  of 
South  Carolina  and  Louisiana  during  the  summer  and  fall 
of  last  year. 

Were  I  to  tarry  here  in  my  description  of  classes  compos 
ing  the  population  of  the  South,  I  should  do  great  injustice 
to  two  other  classes,  of  whom  I  make  mention  with  special 
pleasure.  I  refer,  first,  to  the  very  respectable  class  of  white 
men  found  in  the  South,  known  as  original  Union  men, 
latterly  sneeringly  called  "  Scallawags ;"  and,  secondly,  to 
a  considerable  class  of  white  men  who,  going  into  the  rebel 
army  and  being  defeated  in  honorable  warfare,  have  accept 
ed  the  situation  in  good  faith,  and  yield  a  cordial  obedience 
to  the  law.  These,  too,  have  also  been  sneeringly  desig 
nated  by  the  same  appellation. 


214  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

If  I  might  be  permitted  to  particularize  still  further  I 
would  mention,  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  to  your  attention, 
with  due  emphasis,  all  the  peculiar  classes  with  which  we 
have  to  deal  in  settling  the  Southern  problem — a  class  of 
white  men  peculiarly  and  intimately  related  to  the  colored 
class  by  ties  of  blood  and  kinship.  I  refer  to  a  class  of 
white  men  who  have  not  hesitated  to  establish  the  relations 
named,  by  recognizing,  in  many  instances,  the  offspring  of 
their  slave  women  as  their  own  children ;  not  infrequently 
providing  for  their  education,  and  otherwise  manifesting  a 
fatherly  interest  and  affection  for  such  children.  How  far 
such  offspring,  the  children  of  white  men  by  colored  women, 
in  many  cases  educated,  as  intimated,  by  their  fathers,  are 
to  aid  in  bridging  the  social  and  political  differences  between 
the  classes  of  the  South,  white  and  colored,  Providence  only 
knows  and  will  determine.  The  prediction  that  this  class 
will  play,  in  the  future,  an  important  part  in  this  work  may 
not  prove  wholly  untrue. 

The  classes  now  described  are  diverse  in  origin,  unlike  in 
instinct,  and  have  by  no  means  enjoyed  equal  educational 
advantages;  in  fact,  the  Negro  and  the  poor  white  were 
wholly  without  educational  opportunities  during  the  days  of 
slavery.  -One  great  class  were  formerly  the  slave-masters^ 
another,  their  slaves;  a  third,  the  poor  whites,  during  the 
existence  of  slavery,  were  almost  as  destitute  of  civil  and 
political  rights  and  privileges  as  the  slaves  themselves;  and, 
in  fact,  their  social  and  moral  condition  was  even  lower  than 
that  of  the  Negro.  And  these  classes  differ  widely  in  polit. 
ical  purpose  and  affiliation,  as  well  as  in  political  under 
standing  and  aspiration.  Is  it  possible  to  bring  these 
classes  to  such  agreement  with  regard  to  their  common 
welfare,  the  material  and  moral  good  of  their  section,  and 
thus  remove  the  differences,  political  and  other,  to  which 


PACIFIC  BECONSIBUCTION.  215 

reference  has  been  made,  and  also  to  establish  peace,  good 
order,  and  consequent  prosperity  and  happiness,  under  the 
Constitution,  as  the  results  of  pacific  reconstruction? 

The  proposition  of  peaceful  reconstruction  is  surrounded 
with  serious  difficulties,  awaiting  solution. 

The  first  of  these  is  found  in  the  fact  that,  the  dominant 
classes  of  the  South,  unitejl  in  purpose,  and  animated  by 
common  feelings,  forming  a  compact  social  and  political 
organization,  easily  and  effectively  wielded,  as  necessity 
required,  has  hitherto  formed  a  firm  alliance  with  the  Dem 
ocratic  party,  which  promises,  though  its  influence,  direct 
and  indirect,  success  to  their  sectional  plans  and  measures. 
This  party,  always  false  in  the  presence  of  high  moral  and 
patriotic  requirement,  stands  ready  to  promise  all  things  in 
return  for  any  support  which  brings  it  success  and  power. 
Its  leaders  act  as  if  it  had  been  organized,  and  were  still 
maintained,  rather  to  achieve  mere  party  success  and  party 
ends,  than  the  enduring  good  of  all  sections  of  the  country,, 
the  lasting  welfare  of  all  the  people.  This  party  taught, 
first  of  all,  the  false  doctrine  of  State  sovereignty  as  opposed 
to  the  supremacy  of  the  National  Government ;  and  it  to-day 
must  be  held  responsible  for  the  blighting  consequences 
which  have  followed  therefrom.  It  is  responsible,  too,  in  no- 
insignificant  sense,  for  the  late  Rebellion,  in  connection  with 
which  there  is  no  feature  of  its  conduct,  as  a  party,  as  far 
as  the  South  is  concerned,  or  the  Government,  which  reflects 
upon  it  special  credit,  Having  promised  to  aid  the  South 
in  its  attempts  to  make  practical  the  lessons  of  political 
philosophy,  which  it  had  taught,  in  the  hour  of  trial  it  proved 
itself  cowardly,  and  ever  after  as  unworthy  of  confidence^ 
If,  as  a  party,  it  affected  to  give  the  Government  support, 
its  acts  proved  insincere  and  pretentious. 


216  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

Estimated  in  the  light  of  its  past  record,  weighing  its  pur 
pose  and  integrity  in  the  light  of  its  recent  behavior,  one 
must  conclude  that  the  sagacious  and  earnest  leaders  of  the 
South,  always  requiring,  in  those  with  whom  they  deal, 
decision,  courage  and  truth,  cannot  longer  confide  in  such 
party,  nor  trust  the  destiny  of  their  section  to  its  control. 
The  character  and  behavior  of  the  Democratic  party,  so 
inconsistent  and  unreliable,  furnish  no  ground  of  hope  for 
good  to  the  South.  As  the  Southern  leaders  lose  confidence 
in  this  party,  its  teachings  and  its  policy,  its  disposition  and 
ability  to  discharge  its  promises,  the  alliance  mentioned  will 
be  weakened,  sooner  or  later  annulled,  and  other  and  more 
advantageous  affiliations  sought  and  formed.  The  conduct 
of  prominent  leaders,  members  of  the  House  of  Representa 
tives  from  the  South  in  the  last  session  of  Congress,  in  con 
nection  with  certain  decisions  of  the  Electoral  Commission, 
bears  with  peculiar  force  upon  this  particular  point.  It  is 
admitted  on  all  sides  that  it  was  the  vote  of  Southern  men 
•—men  who  were  expected  to  vote  with  fillibustering  Demo 
crats  from  the  North — which  thwarted  the  purpose  of  such 
Democratic  members,  and  sustained  the  action  of  the  Com 
mission.  This  must  be  regarded  as  a  step  in  the  direction 
of  just  and  peaceful  reconstruction.  With  this  beginning 
we  may  reasonably  hope  for  an  ending  as  beneficent  as  it  is 
wise. 

A  second  difficulty  is  found  in  the  indisposition,  hereto 
fore  existing  on  the  part  of  the  dominant  class  of  the  South, 
to  brook  opposition  of  opinion  and  judgment  in  matters  of 
politics.  Taught  from  their  cradles,  by  the  influences  of  their 
peculiar  institution,  as  it  formerly  existed,  to  believe  them 
selves  the  owners  and  masters  of  men,  and  learning  early, 
-and  witnessing  constantly,  the  utter  dependence  of  the  non- 
slaveholding  whites,  living  among  them,  upon  their  power 


PACIFIC  RECONSTRUCTION.  217 

and  whim,  it  was  altogether  natural,  inevitable,  that  they 
acquired  the  habit  of  command,  exacting  ready  and  unques 
tioning  acquiescence.  Politically,  the  course  of  treatment 
pursued  by  the  Government  toward  the  South  on  all  subjects 
relating  to  that  section,  affecting  its  interests,  directlyj  or 
remotely,  really  or  imaginarily,  compromising  too  often, 
even  at  the  expense  of  freedom  and  national  honor,  has 
tended  greatly,  and  not  unnaturally,  to  create  and  foster  the 
feeling  to  which  reference  has  been  made. 

The  experience  of  the  past  sixteen  years,  the  lessons jaf 
law  and  ethics,  freedom  and  equal  rights,  free  thought  ancl 
free  speech,  the  right  of  every  individual,  without  denial 
and  unchallenged,  to  form  and  express  his  own  judgment, 
being  amenable,  according  to  law  only,  for  the  abuse  of  this 
privilege,  have  done  much  to  correct  this  state  of  mind,  and 
to  beget  and  sustain  largely  a  spirit  of  honest  difference  of 
sentiment,  even  on  political  subjects.  The  progress  made 
in  this  direction,  though  far  from  being  all  we  could  wish, 
is  of  great  value  and  promises  well. 

Free  thought,  free  discussion,  earnest  and  honest  agitation 
Are  the  indispensable  conditions  of  reformation  and  progress 
in  the  South,  as  well  as  everywhere  else,  among  all  people. 
Is  this  condition  possible  by  means  of  peaceful  reconstruc 
tion? 

A  third  difficulty  following  close  upon  the  one  just  named, 
although  distinct  from  it,  is  found  in  the  inaccessibility  of 
the  masses,  as  well  as  leaders,  now,  as  heretofore,  dominant 
in  the  South.  Will  they  hear?  Can  they  be  reached?  The 
first  question  is  partially  answered  in  what  has  already  been 
said.  It  may  be  added  that :  "  The  old  wall  of  partition 
has  been  broken  down,"  and  the  teacher  and  the  agitator  are 
now  among  them.  If  allowed  to  remain  their  influence 
must  tell  for  good.  The  little  leavefc  may  leaven  the  whole 
lump.  ** 


218  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP* 

Following  the  revolution  which  has  just  been  wrought  in 
the  South,  breaking  up  institutions,  changing  the  system  of 
labor,  necessitating  the  remodeling  of  law  and  legislation, 
the  establishment  of  other  and  better  educational  organiza 
tions,  the  submission  of  the  political  and  the  religious  opin 
ions  of  the  people  to  a  new  crucial  test,  the  deposing  of 
many  old,  and  the  advancement  of  other  leaders,  the  condi 
tion  of  the  public  mind,  now  upon  inquiry,  the  best,  the 
most  gifted  and  learned  seeking  knowledge,  makes  this  the 
time  pre-eminently  to  speak  and  be  heard.  The  public 
address,  the  considerate  editorial,  the  pamphlet  or  book,  in 
which  are  discussed,  with  wisdom  and  moderation,  the  prob 
lems  of  reconcilement  and  pacification,  the  material  and 
moral  welfare  of  the  South,  its  just  local  self-government, 
will  be  read,  and  their  sentiments  considered  and  diffused 
to  the  good  of  all  the  people.  This  is  the  hour  for  its  per 
formance,  and  this  is  the  work  which  should  be  done  for  the 
South.  The  truth  and  the  light  should  be  given  the  people 
of  this  section. 

A  fourth  difficulty  connected  with  peaceful  reconstruction- 
is  discoverable  in  the  fear  of  many  that  efforts  in  that  behalf 
tend  to  jeopardize  the  rights  of  the  colored  people,  through 
the  probable  success  of  the  Democratic  party. 

If  what  has  already  been  said  be  true  there  can  be  no- 
well-founded  fear  that  peaceful  reconstruction  in  the  South 
would  result  in  the  success  of  the  Democratic  party,  and  in 
jeopardizing  the  liberty  and  rights  of  the  emancipated  class. 
Many  good  men,  earnest  and  tried  friends  of  the  colored 
people,  find  it  difficult  to  give  their  consent  to  the  new  policy 
of  pacification,  for  the  reasons  here  indicated.  The  Demo 
cratic  party  they  justly  fear;  and  they  would  keep  it  out  of 
power  at  all  hazards.  The  liberty  and  rights  of  the  colored 
American  they  would  sustain,  even  by  the  use  of  the  army 


PACIFIC  RECONSTRUCTION.  219 

and  navy.  Such  purpose  I  indorse  and  shall  sustain,whenever 
needful,  as  far  as  possible,  without  violating  the  rights  of 
others,  and  doing  violence  and  damage  to  the  interests  of 
all  concerned,  the  black  as  well  as  the  white  man. 

In  the  first  place,  mere  party  success  is  not,  in  my  judg 
ment,  indispensable  to  the  greater  good  we  should  seek  to 
accomplish,  nor  in  any  sense  comparable  with  it.  Party,  I 
hold  as  a  means.  The  end  to  be  gained  is  the  incomparable 
and  enduring  good  of  the  people.  The  success  of  the  Dem 
ocratic  party  does  not  follow  necessarily  the  adoption  of  the 
policy  of  pacific  reconstruction.  On  the  other  hand,  I  fear 
the  continuance  of  the  use  of  the  army  in  the  South  will 
hasten  such  result  in  the  defeat  of  the  Republican  party. 
Let  us  not,  in  our  anxiety  as  to  Democratic  success,  fail  to 
secure  the  continued  success  of  the  party  of  freedom. 

But  will  pacific  reconstruction  prove  injurious  to  the  col 
ored  citizen  ?  I  believe  not.  I  beli'eve  it  will  prove  to  him, 
as  to  all  other  residents  of  the  South,  an  inestimable  bless 
ing.  Of  all  others  thus  located,  he  is  most  ill  prepared  for 
a  continuance  of  political.strife,  so  costly  of  time,  industry, 
the  fruits  of  toil,  personal  safety,  life,  liberty,  and  the  pur 
suit  of  happiness.  Reconciliation — the  peace,  the  rest,  the 
opportunity  and  blessings  which  come  of  this,  he  needs. 
And  if  he  is  to  gain  positive  footing  as  a  citizen  of  char 
acter,  means,  and  influence  where  he  lives,  this  he  must  have. 
With  harmony  and  good  neighborhood  existing  between  him 
and  the  white  classes,  his  life,  under  the  13th,  14th  and  15th 
amendments  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  and 
the  laws  passed  in  pursuance  thereof,  with  his  liberty  and 
rights  duly  protected,  as  emergency  may  require,  by  the 
State  or  Federal  Government,  will  prove,  it  may  be,  at  times 
rugged  and  hard,  but  on  the  whole,  successful  and  profitable. 
Relieved  from  too  pressing  and  absorbing  political  excite- 


220  FEEEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

ment,  he  will  cultivate  industry  more  thoroughly  and  advan 
tageously,  locate  his  family,  educate  his  children,  accumu 
late  wealth,  and  improve  himself  in  all  those  things  which 
pertain  to  worthy  life. 

He  will  become,  in  this  way,  a  valuable  and  influential 
member  of  society,  respected  and  honored,  it  may  be,  by  his 
neighbors  and  fellow-citizens.  He  will  become,  indeed,  in 
terested  in  all  matters  which  concern  the  State  in  which  he 
lives,  and  like  his  fellow-citizens,  by  voice  and  vote,  advance 
and  conserve  the  welfare  of  the  community.  He  will  be 
come  self-reliant  and  self-supporting;  no  longer  a  pariah, 
but  a  man  and  citizen  in  fact.  Having  passed  thus  his  life 
in  honest  industry  and  noble  endeavor,  winning  honors,  offi 
cial  and  other,  no  distinctions  made  against  him  on  account 
of  his  color — distinctions  offensive  and  harassing — he  will 
spend  his  declining  years  in  the  midst  of  a  happy  family, 
his  children  respected,  as  they  show  themselves  honest,  hon 
orable,  and  worthy.  Is  this  condition  possible?  May  we 
justly  contemplate  this  as  the  promise  of  peaceful  recon 
struction  to  the  former  slave?  God  grant  that  it  may  be  so ! 

I  will  not  pass,  I  will  not  treat  as  a  thing  of  small  account, 
the  hatred,  intense  and  seemingly  implacable,  exhibited  since 
the  war  by  the  dominant  class  of  the  South  against  the  en 
franchized  colored  citizen.  The  intensity  and  the  implaca 
bility  of  this  feeling  cannot  be  denied,  and  this  fact  we 
must  not  fail  to  appreciate.  In  an  amicable  readjustment, 
however,  and  under  the  milder  sway  of  truth  and  justice, 
law  and  liberty,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  condition  of  things 
indicated  will  be  established,  and  an  intelligent  and  perma 
nent  friendship  secured  between  these  classes. 

Several  important  circumstances,  now  existing  facts,  must 
contribute  directly  and  largely  to  the  accomplishment  of 
this  result.  The  improved  condition  of  the  colored  people, 


PACIFIC  RECONSTBUCTION.  221 

their  advancement  in  education,  property,  and  social  char 
acter,  in  their  knowledge  of  their  rights  as  well  as  their 
courage  to  assert  earnestly  their  claim  thereto ;  the  presence 
and  residence  of  many  Northern  white  men  in  the  South, 
with  their  broad  and  liberal  education,  their  knowledge  and 
appreciation  of  the  beautiful  and  ennobling  lessons  of  Chris 
tian  civilization,  their  value  of  manhood  and  the  best  methods 
of  developing  and  fostering  its  noblest  qualities,  their  energy, 
their  industry,  their  thrift,  their  progress,  their  love  of  liberty, 
equal  rights,  and  free  institutions;  the  influence  of  the  na 
tive-Union  white  man  of  the  South,  his  .brave  assertion  of 
loyal  sentiments,  and  his  fearless  maintenance  of  the  doc 
trines  of  our  amended  Constitution  and  the  equal  rights  ot 
all,  as  therein  enunciated,  must  all  aid  in  producing  and 
sustaining  such  state  of  society. 

The  last  and  crowning  difficulty  which  I  shall  mention,  is 
the  wrong  political  education  of  the  white  classes  of  the 
South.  The  tendency  of  political  thought  in  the  South  has 
always  been  towards  aristocracy  and  feudal  institutions — 
the  right  of  the  few  to  govern,  that  right  being  founded  upon 
wealth,  landed  estates,  and  consequent  social  position  and 
influence.  It  may  be  stated  with  truth  that  the  central  and 
controlling  idea  of  the  American  Government,  tersely  and 
graphically  described  by  Abraham  Lincoln  as  "  the  Gov 
ernment  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people," 
has  never  been  incorporated  in  the  political  judgment  or 
policy  of  the  South.  How  else  could  it  be,  with  the  over 
shadowing  institution  of  slavery  existing  there  for  quite  two 
hundred  and  forty-five  years,  while  under  this  institution 
365,000  slave-holders  constituted  the  body  of  property-hold 
ers,  and  the  ruling  class,  to  all  intents  and  purposes  ?  In 
addition  to  the  political  heresy,  through  the  teachings  of 
certain  eminent  and  distinguished  Southern  statesmen,  the 


222  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

doctrine  of  State-rights  and  secession  prevailed,  and  was 
tenaciously  held  generally. 

Besides,  the  South  had  not  accepted  as  the  basis  of  polit 
ical  action,  prior  to  the  war,  those  great  and  fundamental 
principles  which  distinguish  the  American  Revolution.  The 
principles  of  the  Declaration,  the  doctrines  of  the  Constitu 
tion,  the  sentiments  of  the  wisest  and  best  statesmen  of  the 
country  were  generally  treated  as  «'  glittering  generalities," 
void  of  practical  significance.  But  now  they  profess  to  ac 
cept  all  these ;  and  no  one  is  found  to  advocate  the  re-en 
slavement  of  the  Negro,  or  to  oppose  universal  suffrage. 
Freedom  and  popular  government  are  accepted  and  estab 
lished  facts.  Everybody  admits  the  utter  absurdity  and 
impracticability  of  secession,  and  yields  a  cordial  and  su 
preme  allegiance  to  the  General  Government.  Indeed,  pro. 
fessedly,  all  the  results  of  the  war  are  accepted,  including 
the  amendments  of  the  Constitution  and  the  reconstruction 
acts,  so-called.  Taught,  in  a  baptism  of  blood,  the  utter  ab 
surdity  and  futility  of  their  former  political  training,  its 
unreasonableness  and  want  of  foundation  in  truth,  it  is  to 
be  hoped  that,  like  wise  men,  the  Southern  statesmen  will 
build  anew  upon  sounder  principles  of  philosophy  and  law, 
as  illustrated  in  the  history  of  the  best  and  most  exalted 
civilization  of  mankind. 

More  than  this.  Revolutions  always  prove  moral  sources 
of  education  to  the  people.  The  revolution  of  the  South 
will  form  no  exception  to  this  rule.  And  among  the  valua 
ble  fruits  which  it  will  bring  to  the  people  finally,  as  I 
believe,  is  a  system  of  common  schools,  founded  and  sup 
ported  by  the  State,  aided,  it  may  be,  by  the  National  Gov 
ernment,  which  will  become  nurseries  no  less  of  liberty  and 
labor,  learning  and  piety,  than  sentiments  of  humane  consid 
eration  and  kindly  regard  of  the  one  class  for  the  other. 


PA CIFIG  EECONSTR  UCTION.  223 

The  humanizing  influences  of  letters,  the  liberalizing  ten 
dencies  of  knowledge,  the  purity  of  purpose  and  elevation 
of  character  produced  by  culture,  the  new  feelings  and  con- 
sequent  change  of  habits  and  conduct,  products  of  enlight 
enment,  must  be  treated  as  positive  moral  agencies,  having 
to  do  with  the  problem  which  w,e  are  now  considering. 

In  a  carefully  prepared  address,  delivered  by  the  Hon. 
Roscoe  Conkling,  at  Utica,  New  York,  during  the  late  presi 
dential  campaign,  occurs  the  following  truthful  statement : 

"Two  hundred  years  ago  two  hostile  systems  of  civilization 
started  on  this  continent.  They  came  from  other  lands.  One 
was  the  idea  of  free  thought  and  action,  of  equal  rights  for 
all;  of  dignity  of  labor — the  idea  that  every  man  was  his 
own  master  and  peer  of  any  other  man  before  the  law,  how 
ever  poor  and  humble  his  calling,  however  hard  his  lot.  This 
idea,  and  the  system  it  founded,  were  planted  at  the  North. 
The  other  was  the  idea  of  aristocracy  and  caste,  of  lawful  su 
periority  of  man  over  man,  of  the  right  of  one  class  to  dom 
inate  another  and  appropriate  its  labor,  and  to  enjoy  class 
immunity  and  privilege.  This  idea,  with  the  system  it 
founded,  was  planted  in  the  South." 

Our  late  war  was,  indeed,  nothing  other  tban  the  last 
bloody  contest  of  these  two  ideas  and  systems  in  mighty  and 
desperate  appeal  to  arms  for  the  mastery.  The  result  of  the 
congest  has  been  chronicled;  and  the  mastery — the  eternal 
mastery  of  the  Northern  idea  and  system,  matchless  in  the 
glory  of  its  triumph,  promising,  in  peace,  prosperity,  and 
happiness,  such  priceless  blessings  to  the  entire  country — 
must,  shall  be  maintained  !  If  the  professions  of  dominant 
•classes  at  the  South  are  sincere,  if  they  have  put  away  in 
deed  the  old  things  and  really  accept  the  new,  the  task  of 
reconcilemsnt  and  pacification  is  easy;  and,  accomplished, 
our  nation  moves  forward,  henceforth  cultivating  the  one 
idea  and  the  one  system,  thereby  achieving  the  largest  pos 
sible  results  under  a  common,  harmonious,  Christian  civili 
sation. 


224  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

The  Republican  party,  at  its  late  national  convention,, 
expressed,  with  clearness  and  force,  its  judgment  and  pur 
pose  as  to  the  permanent  pacification  of  the  South,  and  the 
complete  protection  of  all  its  citizens  in  the  free  enjoyment 
of  all  their  rights.  Its  expression  on  the  subject  is  signifi 
cant,  and  is  alluded  to  here  as  wise  a,nd  true.  The  third 
Bection  of  the  platform  reads  : 

"The  permanent  pacification  of  the  Southern  section  of 
the  Union,  the  complete  protection  of  all  its  citizens  in  the 
free  enjoyment  of  all  their  rights,  are  duties  to  which  the  Re 
publican  party  is  sacredly  pledged.  The  power  to  provide 
for  the  enforcement  of  the  principles  embodied  in  the  recent 
Constitutional  amendments  is  vested  by  those  amendments 
in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  and  we  declare  it  to 
be  the  solemn  obligation  of  the  legislative  and  executive 
departments  of  the  Government  to  put  into  immediate  and 
vigorous  exercise  all  their  constitutional  powers  for  remov 
ing  any  just  cause  of  discontent  on  the  part  of  any  class, 
and  securing  to  every  American  citizen  complete  liberty  and 
exact  equality  in  the  exercise  of  all  civil,  political  and  pub 
lic  rights.  To  this  end  we  imperatively  demand  a  Congress 
and  Chief  Executive  whose  courage  and  fidelity  to  these 
duties  shall  not  falter  until  these  results  are  placed  beyond 
dispute  or  recall." 

Commenting  upon  this  portion  of  the  platform,  President 
Hayes,  in  his  letter  of  acceptance,  says  : 

"  The  resolution  of  the  convention  on  the  subject  of  the 
permanent  pacification  of  the  country,  and  the  complete  pro 
tection  of  all  its  citizens  in  the  free  enjoyment  of  all  their 
constitutional  rights,  is  timely  and  of  great  importance.  The 
condition  of  the  Southern  States  attracts  the  attention  and 
commands  the  sympathy  of  the  people  of  the  whole.  Union 
in  their  progressive  recovery  fr-im  the  effects  of  the  war. 
Their  first  necessity  is  an  intelligent  and  honest  administra 
tion  of  Government,  which  will  protect  all  classes  of  citizens 
in  all  their  political  and  private  rights.  What  the  South  most 
needs  is  peace,  and  peace  depends  upon  the  supremacy  of 
law. 


PACIFIC  RECONSTRUCTION.  226 

"  There  can  be  no  enduring  peace  if  the  constitutional 
rights  of  any  portion  of  the  people  are  habitually  disregarded. 
A^division  of  political  parties,  resting  merely  upon  distinc 
tions  of  race  or  upon  sectional  lines,  is  always  unfortunate, 
and  may  be  disastrous.  The  welfare  of  the  South,  alike 
with  that  of  every  other  part  of  this  country,  depends  upon 
the  attractions  it  can  offer  to  labor  and  immigration,  and  to 
capital.  But  laborers  will  not  go,  and  capital  will  not  be 
ventured,  where  the  Constitution  and  laws  are  set  at  defiance,, 
and  distraction,  apprehension  and  alarm  take  the  place  of 
peace-loving  and  law-abiding  social  life.  All  parts  of  the 
Constitution  are  sacred,  and  must  be  sacredly  observed — the 
parts  that  are  new,  no  less  than  the  parts  that  are  old.  The 
moral  and  material  prosperity  of  the  Southern  States  can  be 
most  effectively  advanced  by  a  hearty  and  generous  recogni 
tion  of  the  rights  of  all  by  all,  a  recognition  without  reserve 
or  exception.  With  such  a  recognition  fully  accorded,  it  will 
be  practicable  to  promote,  by  the  influence  of  all  legitimate 
agencies  of  the  General  Government,  the  effort  of  the  people 
of  these  States  to  obtain  for  themselves  the  blessings  of  hon 
est  and  capable  local  government.  If  elected,  I  shall ^  con 
sider  it  not  only  my  duty,  but  it  will  be  my  ardent  desire  to 
labor  for  the  attainment  of  this  end.  Let  me  assure  my 
countrymen  of  the  Southern  States  that,  if  I  shall  be  charged 
with  the  duty  of  organizing  an  administration,  it  will  be  one 
which  will  regard  and  cherish  their  truest  interests,  the  in 
terests  of  the  white  and  colored  people,  both  and  equally,  and 
which  will  put  forth  its  best  efforts  in  behalf  of  a  civil  policy 
which  will  wipe  out  forever  the  distinction  between  the  North 
and  the  South  in  our  common  country." 

True  to  this  declaration,  faithful  to  the  promise  it  contains, 
President  Hayes,  in  his  inaugural  address,  elaborates  and 
enforces  the  same  sentiments  in  the  following  words : 

"  The  permanent  pacification  of  the  country  upon  such 
principles  and  by  such  measures  as  will  secure  the  complete 
protection  of  all  its  citizens  in  the  free  enjoyment  of  all  their 
constitutional  rights,  is  now  the  one  subject  in  all  our  public 
affairs  which  all  thoughtful  and  patriotic  citizens  regard  as 
of  supreme  importance. 


226  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

^Many  of  the  calamitous  effects  of  the  tremendous  revo 
lution  which  has  passed  over  the  Southern  States  still  remain. 
The  immeasurable  benefits  which  will  surely  follow,  sooner 
or  later,  the  hearty  and  generous  acceptance  of  the  legitimate 
results  of  that  revolution  have  not  yet  been  realized  Diffi 
cult  and  embarrassing  questions  meet  us  at  the  threshold  of 
this  subject.  The  people  of  those  States  are  still  impoverished, 
and  the  inestimable  blessing  of  wise,  honest,  and  peaceful 
local  self-government  is  not  fully  enjoyed.  Whatever  differ 
ence  of  opinion  may  exist  as  to  the  cause  of  this  condition  of 
these  things,  the  fact  is  clear  that,  in  the  progress  of  events, 
the  time  has  come  when  such  government  is  the  imperative 
necessity  required  by  all  the  varied  interests,  public  and  pri 
vate,  of  those  States.  But  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  only 
a  local  government  which  recognizes  and  maintains  inviolate 
tlie  rights  of  all  is  a  true  self-government. 

"With  respect  to  the  two  distinct  races  whose  peculiar  re 
lations  to  each  other  have  brought  upon  us  the  deplorable 
complications  and  perplexities  which  exist  in  those  States,  it 
must  be  a  government  which  guards  the  interests  of  both 
races  carefully  and  equally.  It  must  be  a  government  which 
submits  loyally  and  heartily  to  the  Constitution  and  the  laws 
— the  laws  of  the  nation  and  the  laws  of  the  States  them 
selves — accepting  and  obeying  faithfully  the  whole  Constitu 
tion  as  it  is. 

"Besting  upon  this  sure  and  substantial  foundation,  the 
superstructure  of  beneficent  local  governments  can  be  built 
up  and  not  otherwise.  In  furtherance  of  such  obedience  to 
the  letter^and  the  spirit  of  the  Constitution,  and  in  behalf  of 
all  that  its  attainment  applies,  all  so-called  party  interests 
lose  their  apparent  importance,  and  party  lines  may  well  be 
permitted  to  fade  into  insignificance.  The  question  we  have 
to  consider  for  tha  immediate  welfare  of  those  States  of  the 
Union  is  the  question  of  government  or  no  government,  of 
social  order  and  all  the  peaceful  industries  and  the  happiness 
that  belong  to  it,  or  a  return  to  barbarism. 

"It  is  a  question  in  which  every  citizen  of  the  nation  is  deeply 
interested,  and  with  respect  to  which  we  ought  not  to  be,  in 
a  partisan  sense,  either  Republicans  or  Democrats,  but  fel 
low-citizens  and  fellow-men  to  whom  the  interests  of  a  com 
mon  country  and  a  common  humanity  are  dear." 


PACIFIC  RECONSTRUCTION.  127 

These  utterances — the  one,  that  of  the  great  national  party, 
-which  is  responsible  for  the  conduct  of  our  Federal  and  State 
affairs  beyond  question  for  the  past  sixteen  years ;  the  other 
the  utterances  of  a  sagacious  and  judicious  statesman  occu 
pying  conspicuous  place  among  the  leaders  of  the  party — 
teach  the  threefold  lesson :  first,  that  pacific  reconstruction, 
if  possible,  ought  to  be  accomplished;  second,  that  if  ac 
complished  it  is  to  be  done  only  in  the  adoption  of  "such 
principles  and  measures  as  will  secure  the  complete  protec 
tion  of  all  citizens  in  the  free  enjoyment  of  all  their  consti 
tutional  rights;"  and  third,  that  such  attempts  at  pacification 
are  not  only  not  inconsistent,  but  are  in  perfect  accord  with 
the  principles  and  doctrines  of  genuine  Republicanism.  The 
lessons  of  history,  not  less  than  the  precepts  of  our  religion 
and  the  fundamental  principles  of  wise  statesmanship,  justify 
and  sustain  such  treatment  of  the  Southern  section  of  our 
country.  But  how  shall  this  peaceful  theory  of  reconstruc 
tion,  so  beautiful  in  ideal,  whose  results  are  so  delightful  to 
contemplate,  be  reduced  to  practice  without  injustice  to  any, 
and  with  the  largest  good  to  all  ? 

I  have  designated  the  various  classes  composing  the  popu 
lation  of  the  South.  I  have  indicated  certain  difficulties, 
and  in  that  connection  dwelt  upon  changes  of  institutions, 
and  feelings  of  the  people,  which,  as  I  suppose,  have  tajken 
place  ;  and  I  have  presented  in  the  language  of  the  platform 
lately  adopted,  and  in  the  language  of  his  letter  of  accept 
ance  and  his  inaugural  address,  the  sentiments  of  the  Repub 
lican  party  and  the  President  of  the  United  States,  with 
regard  to  this  subject.  And  now,  with  the  field  before  us, 
the  difficulties  of  its  cultivation  presented,  the  practical,  all- 
important  question  of  how  shall  we  proceed  confronts  us. 

The  importance,  the  magnitude,  and  difficulty,  as  well  as 
the  necessity,  of  reconstruction  by  peaceful  means  will  be 


228  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

conceded.  And  however  we  may  regret  it,  it  will  be  conceded 
that  the  method  heretofore  pursued  proves  by  no  means  sat 
isfactory  in  its  results.  Whether  this  failure  is  owing  to  the 
unhandsome  and  obnoxious  conduct  of  political  adventurers  ; 
the  unnecessary  and  too  constant  political  excitement  and 
agitation  of  the  people,  the  injudicious  and  oppressive  acts 
of  Republican  legislatures  and  officials,  the  former  composed, 
frequently,  largely  of  ignorant,  unqualified,  and  impecunious 
persons,  white  and  black,  and  the  latter  frequently  not  only 
incompetent,  but  offensive  and  exasperating  in  their  conduct; 
the  too  frequent  interference  by  the  National  Government  in 
State  affairs  with  the  army,  seemingly  for  party  purposes  ; 
the  general  bad  temper  and  purpose  of  the  native  dominant 
white  class— whatever  the  cause,  as  to  the  failure  of  the 
former  method,  there  is  but  one  opinion.  The  failure  is  a 
fact,  and  some  new  and,  if  possible,  better  method  must  be 
tried.  This  the  welfare  of  those  immediately  concerned,  as 
well  as  the  general  good  of  the  country  in  all  its  material 
and  moral  interests,  requires. 

We  must  remember,  however,  in  dealing  with  this  subject, 
that  there  is  to  be  no  compromise,  no  surrender  of  principle, 
no  betrayal  of  plighted  faith.  And  there  need  not  be ;  for 
with  us  it  is  not  a  question  of  new  principles  and  measures ; 
it  is  simply  a  matter  of  administration  or  policy,  involving 
the  mode  of  applying  the  principles  and  measures  already 
accepted  and  fixed  in  the  Constitution  and  the  laws. 

The  present  administration,  in  its  efforts  at  pacification,  in 
dealing  with  States,  classes,  races  and  individuals,,  proposes, 
as  one  must  believe,  to  stand  on  the  law,  as  now  written  and 
determined,  insisting  upon  the  cordial  recognition  of  the 
equal  rights  of  all  citizens,  the  practical  guarantee  of  their 
protection  in  such  rights,  the  establishment  and  maintenance 
of  such  condition  of  good  order  and  peace  as  to  encourage 


PACIFIC  EECONSTEUCTION.  229 

immigration,  the  introduction  of  capital,  and  the  advance 
ment  of  labor,  as  well  as  the  inauguration  of  such  local  self- 
governments  as  in  all  their  departments  and  acts  shall  be 
harmonious  with  the  altered  status  of  the  former  slave,  the 
new  provisions  of  the  Constitution  and  the  enactments  of  the 
State  and  General  Government  passed  in  accordance  there 
with.      Occupying  such  position,  and  insisting  upon  such 
conditions  as  precedent  and  indispensable,  the  good  omens  of 
its  initials  efforts  promise  a  happy  success.     The  acceptance 
of  these  condititions  as  precedent  and  indispensable  consti 
tutes  the  only  correct  and  sure  test  of  the  willingness  and  the 
fitness  of  the  dominant  white  classes  of  the  South,  for  prop 
erly  considering  and  appreciating  efforts  for  the  permanent 
pacification  of  that  section.     Did  such  condition  of  public 
feeling  exist,  discoverable  in  the  acts  and  utterances  of  the 
leading  and  influential  men  of  the  South,  in  their  treatment 
-of  the  classes  and  persons  differing  with  them  in   political 
sentiments  and  party  relations,  in  the  solution  and  determina 
tion  of  those  questions,  material,  educational  and  political, 
which  more  especially  affect  the  newly-enfranchised  people, 
we  might  wisely  give  ourselves  no  further  anxiety  with  re 
gard  to  this  subject,  resting  assured  that  the  general  manage 
ment  of  it  by  the  Government  would  improve  and  sustain  it. 
Our  anxieties,  our  fears  come  of  the  fact,  that  too  little 
such  public  feeling  is  now  discernible ;  and  that  it  is  to  be 
created   amd   fostered  largely  by  agencies  and  influences 
brought  to  bear  mainly,  from  without  and  through  the  in 
strumentality  of  the  Government,  upon  those  who  are  to  be 
reconciled  and  made  obedient,  law-abiding  subjects  of  the 
State.  -  The  thing  to  be  done,  then,  is  to  manifest  in  bold 
and  decisive  manner  such  impartial  and  patriotic  disposition 
and  purpose,   with  reference   to  the   management  of  the 
Southern  problem,  as  to  convince  all  concerned  of  the  sin- 


230  FREEDOM  ANJ)  CITIZENSHIP. 

cerity  and  wisdom  of  the  pacific  yet  positive  intentions  of 
the  Government  and  country  with  regard  to  their  case.  In 
this  way  win  their  confidence,  if  possible,  and  secure  an 
earnest  and  hearty  response  to  such  beneficent  purposes.. 
We  do  not  calculate  wisely  regarding  human  impulses,  nor 
the  power  of  kindness  over  the  hearts  of  men,  if  the  result 
does  not  prove  satisfactory. 

The  acts,  expressive  of  such  disposition  and  purpose — 
whether  by  the  appointment  of  a  distinguished  former  rebel 
to  the  Cabinet,  and  prominent  Southern  men  of  the  same 
class  to  conspicuous  official  positions,  are  matters  of  detail, 
which  may  be  very  properly,  under  the  law  and  the  admoni 
tions  of  public  opinion,  entrusted  to  the  President.  It  must 
be  insisted,  however,  as  both  wise  and  just,  that,  in  the  dis 
tribution  of  official  patronage,  Republicans,  especially  na 
tive  whites  and  blacks  of  the  South,  shall  not  be  neglected, 
and  that  the  recognition  accorded  them  shall  be  of  equal 
dignity  and  responsibility  with  that  accorded  the  other  class. 
For  in  this  way  the  aristocratic  feeling  already  mentioned, 
the  hatred  of  the  Negro,  and  the  political  repellancy  exist 
ing  between  the  classes,  will  be  the  more  speedily  corrected 
and  removed.  It  must  also  be  insisted,  where  no  such  do 
mestic  violence  as  that  described  in  the  Constitution  exists- 
in  a  State,  although  there  exist  therein  dispute  as  to  the 
fact  and  legality  of  one  of  two  governments,  that  the  Federal 
army  shall  not  be  used  to  interfere  therewith  ;  but  decision 
as  to  the  dispute  shall  be  made  under  the  law  in  accordance 
with  the  mode  and  methods  provided  thereby.  Thus  an 
exciting,  irritating,  and  exasperating  cause  is  removed,  and 
Government  and  people  remitted  to  the  established  methods 
of  the  law.  The  experience,  the  habits  of  thought  and 
feeling  of  Americans,  ill  prepare  them  for  tolerating  the 
use  of  the  army  in  the  settlement  of  political  differences; 


PACIFIC  RECONSTRUCTION.  213 

and  in  the  presence  of  any  such  real  or  supposed  condition 
of  things,  permanent  peace  is  impossible  in  any  section  of 
our  country. 

The  pleasing  contemplation  of  the  people  of  the  South, 
engaging  in  the  wise  and  profitable  cultivation  of  all  the 
industries,  agricultural  and  other,  peculiar  to  and  remuner 
ative  in  that  section;  human  life  and  human  rights,  without 
regard  to  class  or  color,  properly  valued  and  protected  •> 
just  local  self-government  established  ;  the  vexed  and  try 
ing  question  of  reconstruction  settled  ;  the  union  of  our 
States  and  the  Government  no  longer  endangered  by  any 
exciting  sectional  dispute,  but  adjusted  upon  enduring 
principles  of  justice,  law  and  liberty,  excites  in  our  minds 
the  deepest  feelings  of  hope,  the  profoundest  purpose  to  do- 
all  that  is  practicable  to  secure  such  consummation,  so  de 
voutly  to  be  wished. 

This  condition  of  reconcilement  and  peace  secured,  in 
the  prosperity  and  happiness  of  our  country,  heretofore 
"  rent  by  fratricidal  strife,"  we  shall  realize  the  picture  BO 
strikingly  drawn  by  the  Bard  of  Avon  when  dwelling  upon 
the  restoration  of  peace  at  the  close  of  civil  war : 

"No  more  the  thirsty  Erinnys  of  this  soil 
Shall  daub  her  lips  with  her  own  children's  blood  \ 
No  more  shall  trenching  war  channel  her  fields, 
Nor  bruise  her  flow'rets  with  the  armed  hoofs 
Of  hostile  paces  ;  those  opposed  eyes, 
Which— like  the  meteors  of  a  troubled  heaven, 
All  of  one  nature,  of  one  substance  bred — 
Did  lately  meet  in  the  intestine  shock 
And  furious  close  of  civil  butchery, 
Shall  now,  in  mutual,  well-beseeming  ranks 
March  all  one  way,  and  be  no  more  oppps'd, 
Against  acquaintance,  kindred,  and  allies  ; 
The  edge  of  war,  like  an  ill-sheathed  knife, 
No  more  shall  cut  his  master." 


THE  EXODUS. 


THE  CAUSES  WHICH  LED  THE  COLOKED  PEOPLE 
OF  THE  SOUTH  TO  LEAVE  THEIR  HOMES-THE 
LESSON  OF  THE  EXODUS. 


OFFICE  OF  THE  EMIGRANT  AID  SOCIETY, 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  September  16, 1879. 
HON  JOHN  M.  LAXGSTON. 

DEAK^SIR  :  You  are  aware  that  during  your  o.bsence  from  the  United  States 
there  has  been  a  movement  initiated  on  the  part  of  the  colored  people  of  the 
South  which,  owing  to  its  magnitude  and  the  peculiar  combination  of  causes 
by  which  it  was  brought  about,  is  necessarily  fraught  with  much  interest  to 
the  entire  country.  This  movement,  which  as  yet  is  apparently  seen  only  in 
its  incipiency,  promises  to  result  in  transferring  large  numbers  of  the  colored 
people  from  that  section  of  our  country  in  which  they  were  recently  held  in 
bondage,  and  in  linking  their  destiny  for  weal  or  woe  with  that  of  the  young 
and  thrifty  States  of  the  great  Northwest.  Involving,  as  it  does,  consequences 
which  are  destined  to  have  an  important  bearing  upon  the  future  material 
and  Intellectual  development  of  the  race,  this  modern  exodus  has  called  forth 
serious  thought  and  utterance  from  many  distinguished  statesmen  and  friends 
of  the  colored  people.  "While  by  many  regarded  as  really  the  most  practical 
or  available  solution  of  one  of  the  most  vexed  political  problems  which  has 
thus  far  menaced  the  Republic,  it  is  by  all  conceded  to  be  at  least  a  manly 
and  dignified  step  in  the  already  eventful  career  of  the  colored  race  of 
America. 

In  view  of  your  identification  with  this  race,  and  in  recognition  of  your 
distinguished  ability  and  sagacity  as  a  leader,  we  are  authorized  by  the  Emi 
grant  Aid  Society  of  this  city  to  solicit  from  you  a  public  address  upon  the 
sutjectuf  Emigration,  in  Lincoln  Hall,  at  such  time  as  shall  suit  your  con 
venience.  Assuring  you  of  a  generally  expressed  desire  on  the  part  of  the 
public  to  hear  your  views  upon  the  subject  named,  we  trust  it  may  meet  your 
convenience  and  pleasure  to  accept  the  society's  invitation  at  an  early  day. 
Yery  respectfully,  O.  S.  B.  WALL,  President. 

J.  M.  ADAMS,  Secretary. 

WASHINGTON  CITY,  September  20, 1879. 

GENTLEMEN:  I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  kind 
favor  of  the  16th  instant,  in.  which  you  present,  in  the  most  flattering  manner, 
La  the  name  of  the  Emigrant  Aid  Society  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  an  invita- 


THE  EXODUS.  233 

tion  to  me  to  deliver,  at  Lincoln  Hall,  a  public  address  upon  Emigration.  la 
accepting  your  invitation  I  beg  to  tender  therefor  my  grateful  thanks,  and  to 
name  Tuesday  evening,  October  7,  as  the  time  when  it  will  suit  my  conve 
nience  to  speak  on  the  subject  mentioned, 

With  sentiments  of  high  consideration,  I  am, 

Jons  MEKCKB  LANGSTON. 
Messrs.  O.  S.  B.  WALL,  President. 
J.  M   ADAMS,  Secretary. 

Seventeen  years  ago,  on  the  22d  day  of  September,  Abra 
ham  Lincoln  published  his  preliminary  Proclamation  of 
Emancipation,  and  one  hundred  days  thereafter,  on  the  1st 
day  of  January,  1863,  he  issued  the  proclamation  in  which 
he  designated  the  States  and  parts  of  States  in  which  the 
abolition  of  slavery,  as  a  war  measure,  was  declared.  The 
abolition  of  slavery  in  the  border  States  soon  followed ;  and 
those  persons  who,  prior  to  this  action,  had  been  held  and 
designated  as  things,  chattels  personal,  sustaining  in  the  eye 
of  the  law  only  the  status  of  four-footed  beasts  and  creeping 
things,  were  given  emancipation,  and,  as  supposed,  all  those 
dignities  which  are  implied  in  self-ownership  and  manhood. 

The  measure  of  emancipation,  however,  was  not  granted 
as  the  consequence  of  a  healthy,  moral,  public  sentiment  per 
vading  the  country;  not  upon  political  considerations  advan 
ced,  elucidated,  and  enforced  by  our  leading  statesmen  ;  not 
in  answer  to  appeals  of  abolition  reformers  and  philanthro 
pists,  but  as  a  military  necessity  at  the  time  felt  by  the  Gov 
ernment  and  the  loyal  North  engaged  in  a  struggle  with  and 
against  the  slave  oligarchy  of  the  South.  Had  emancipation 
rested  upon  moral  and  political  bases,  as  the  result  of  agi 
tation  and  debate,  the  condition  of  the  emancipated  class 
might  have  been  considerably  changed.  Some  distinct  gov 
ernmental  provision  might  have  been  taken  for  its  due  set 
tlement,  even  upon  lands  appropriatedjspecially  for  this  pur 
pose;  and  some  system  of  education  provided  whereby  it 
might  have,  in  an^earlier  and  more  thorough  manner,  mastered 
lump.  o 


284  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

and  more  fully  appreciated  the  lessons  taught  and  impressed 
in  freedom  and  by  civil  responsibility.  But  emancipation 
as  a  war  measure,  was  instant  and  speedy  ;  and  its  consum 
mation,  characterized  by  no  prior  consideration  and  debate 
as  to  the  subsequent  situation  of  the  freedman,  left  him  in 
simple  ownership  of  his  person — otherwise  destitute  in  the 
extreme. 

Hence  the  Negro,  yesterday  a  slave,  finds  himself  to-day,  as 
emancipated,  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  simplest  and  merest 
self-ownership.  Without  property  on  the  one  side,  and  destitute 
of  educational  and  moral  appliances  for  his  elevation  on  the 
other,  he  can  look  only  to  the  philanthropic,  the  Christian,  the 
benevolent  public  even  for  food;  clothing,  and  those  simpler 
elementary  matters  of  instruction  which  tend  to  confirm  him 
in  the  consciousness  of  the  self-ownership  which  had  just  been 
conferred.  All  honor  to  the  philanthropic,  the  Christian  and 
benevolent  public  of  this  and  other  lands  for  the  liberal  and 
generous  manner  in  which  responses  were  made  to  the  wants 
of  the  emancipated  colored  American.  Many  noble  families 
of  the  North  gave  their  best  son  and  their  best  daughter  to 
educate  and  to  elevate,  as  far  as  practicable,  the  newly-made 
freedman ;  others  their  money  by  thousands  to  advance  his 
material  and  educational  interests.  It  was  a  sight  worthy  of 
the  civilized,  Christian  country  in  which  we  live  to  witness 
how  the  noble  sons  and  daughters  of  such  heroic,  devoted 
families  attempted  this  work  ;  with  what  earnestness,  vigor, 
and  matchless  moral  heroism.  And  the  little  good  we  find 
to-day  already  accomplished  among  the  freed  people  of  the 
South  is  more  largely  due  to  the  efforts  and  offerings  here 
referred  to  than  to  any  Government  assistance,  State  or  na 
tional,  which  has  been  given. 

With  regard  to  the  emancipation  of  the  American  slave, 
there  have  existed  from  the  foundation  of  our  Government 


THE  EXODUS.  235 

two  opinions,  the  one  favoring  and  the  other  opposing  it ;  and 
as  slavery  itself  grew  hoary-headed,  the  institution  becoming 
more  and  more  deep-seated,  hedged  about  and  defended  by 
State  action  and  national  recognition,  public  sentiment  against 
its  abolition  became  more  general  and  fixed.     So  much  was 
this  the  case  that  we  have  not  to  travel  far  back  in  the  history 
of  our  country  to  find  when  the  two  great  political  parties, 
the  Whig  and  Democratic,  pledged  themselves  to  its  mainte 
nance  and  support  as  a  positive,  moral,  legal,  and  political 
finality.     Every  one  of  us  recollects  with  the  most  vivid  dis 
tinctness  the  action  had  by  these  parties  with  regard  to  the 
compromise  measures  of  1850 ;  and  the  American  Church,  in 
several  of  its  important  branches,  as  if  it  would  not  be  outdone 
by  the  great  political  organizations  of  the  day,  was  rot  slow 
in  making  solemn  and  positive  utterances  founded,  as  was 
claimed,  upon  the  philosophy  and  logic,  the  theology  and 
teachings  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  favoring  this  in- 
ititution,  which  made  and  sustained  property  in  the  bodies 
and  souls  of  men   cheated  in   the  image  of  our  Heavenly 
Father.     It  is  also  within  our  memory,  that  memory  running 
back  not  beyond  a  quarter  of  a  century  of  our  past,  that  the 
leading  doctors  of  divinity,  the  conspicuous  pulpit  orators  of 
our  country  argued,  with  an  ardor  befitting  a  better  cause, 
with  an  eloquence  frequently  to  the  common  mind  irresistible 
and   overwhelming,  that  slavery  was   a  divine  institution, 
sanctioned  and  sanctified  by  the  teachings  of  Moses  and  Paul. 
It  was  out  of  this  state  of  things,  a  state  of  things  implied 
in  the  declarations  which  I  have  just  made  in  regard  to  the 
national  parties  and  the  church,  that  the  great  Republican 
party,  organized  in  1854,  avowing  its  purpose  to  stay  the 
extension  of  slavery,  had  its  origin,  and  entered  upon  that  glo-v 
rious  national  career  which  is  so  distinguished  by  its  triumphs 
in  favor  of  freedom,  equal  rights,  the  support  of  free  institu- 


236  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

tions,  the  maintenance  of  the  Government,  and  the  perpetu 
ation  of  the  Union  of  the  States.  It  was  upon  the  vote  of 
t  his  party  finally  that  Abraham  Lincoln  was  made  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States ;  it  was  the  triumph  of  this  party 
that  gave  occasion  to  the  slave  oligarchy  to  move  in  the 
establishment  of  a  Southern  Confederacy,  and  the  severance 
from  the  union  of  those  States  in  which  this  new  government 
was  to  take  control.  And  as  the  old  Democratic  party 
passed  out  of  power,  James  Buchanan  retiring  to  the  eternal 
shades  of  night,  forever  disgraced  by  the  action  which  he 
had  taken,  or  failed  to  take,  (for  his  sin  is  at  once  one  of 
commission  and  omission,)  the  great  slave-power  received 
that  death-blow,  under  which,  staggering,  it  fell,  dying  in  the 
midst  of  the  thunders  of  the  great  guns,  whose  echoes,  last 
ing  through  the  ages,  are  a  warning  to  those  who  would  break 
our  Union  and  sunder  our  Government ;  while  they  are  glad 
music,  the  perpetual  song  of  joy  to  those  who,  accepting  the 
sentiments  of  our  Declaration  and  the  doctrines  of  our  Con 
stitution,  hold  life,  property  and  sacred  honor  in  pledge  to 
the  maintenance  of  all  those  institutions  which  protect,  de 
fend  and  eternize  American  freedom  with  its  sacred  blessings. 
But  in  the  discussions  had  with  regard  to  the  non-exten 
sion  of  slavery,  the  distinctive  principles  of  the  Republican 
party  and  its  purposes  should  it  come  into  power,  nothing 
had  been  said  really,  with  reference  to  the  immediate  aboli 
tion  of  slavery  in  the  several  States  where  it  existed,  and  no 
well-defined  position  had  been  taken,  no  measuresy  suggested 
for  ameliorating  the  condition  of  the  slave  in  such  States, 
should  he  be  emancipated.  Indeed,  the  one  great  purpose, 
the  sole  object  which  the  most  advanced  leader  of  the  Re 
publican  party  advocated  and  expected  to  realize,  was  the 
prevention  of  the  spread  of  slavery  into  territory  then  free. 
But  it  was  discovered  in  the  midst  of  our  war  against  the 


THE  EXODUS.  237 

rebellion,  that  the  abolition  of  slavery,  as  just  indicated,  was 
a  fitting  and  necessary  war  measure;  and  the  brave  and  true 
Lincoln,  with  one  mighty  stroke  of  his  pen,  decreed  the 
emancipation  of  the  Negro,  who  went  out  from  his  prison- 
house  of  enslavement,  but  in  the  poverty  bequeathed  by 
centuries  of  hard  and  cruel  oppression.  He  was  landless  ; 
he  was  homeless.  Destitute  mainly  of  those  things  which 
distinguish  the  humblest  life,  he  has  been  battling  for  the 
past  seventeen  years  of  his  freedom,  in  a  material  sense,  for 
the  merest,  simplest  necessaries  of  a  lowly  condition.  In  fact, 
the  merest  emancipation  of  person  and  body  has  been  prac 
tically  the  only  thing,  up  to  this  hour,  which  has  been  guaran 
teed  him.  In  this  connection  it  is  our  duty  to  discriminate 
between  simple  emancipation,  accompanied  by  a  destitution 
characteristic  of  slave  existence,  and  practical  freedom,  in 
which  such  destitution  does  not  ordinarily  exist;  for  if  pro 
vision  is  not  made  for  the  newly  emancipated  by  State  or 
national  regulation,  opportunity,  with  fair  wages,  ought  to 
be  given  for  regular  and  remunerative  labor,  with  intelligent 
investment  of  its  proceeds  in  those  things  which  are  indispen 
sable  to  well-ordered  and  prosperous  life. 

This  brings  me  directly  to  the  consideration  of  the  condi 
tion  of  the  American  ex -slave  as  we  find  him  to-day,  strug 
gling  for  life,  with  its  common,  usual  rewards,  in  the  South. 
This  condition  ought  to  be  considered  in  its  several  relations  of 
protection,  industry,  and  politics.  In  dwelling  on  this  branch 
of  the  subject  we  are  not  to  forget  that  our  national  Consti 
tution  has  been  amended  so  as  to  guarantee  freedom,  civil 
rights,  and  the  ballot  to  the  freed  man  ;  that  Congress  has  legis 
lated  in  support  of  any  rights,  immunities,  and  privileges 
claimed  by  this  class  of  our  citizens  ;  and  that  it  is  true  that 
generally  in  the  States  of  the  South  laws  have  been  enacted 
the  purpose  and  object  of  which  seem  to  be  the  protection 


238  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

and  conservation  of  the  rights,  civil  and  other,  which  belong 
to  the  same  class.  In  a  word,  as  far  as  mere  legislation  ii 
concerned,  the  condition  of  the  freedman  seems  to  be  alto 
gether  tolerable — indeed  good.  In  a  material  and  industrial 
point  of  view,  however,  as  well  as  political,  the  difficulty  in 
his  case  seems  to  be  even  more  deep-rooted  and  hard  of  man 
agement.  His  real  condition  is  described  and  duly  appreciat 
ed  only  when  we  recollect  that  although  emancipated  and 
legislation  has  been  had  in  this  case,  as  stated,  still  he  has 
not  been  given  practical  independence  of  the  old  slave-holding 
class,  constituting  the  land-proprietors  and  employers  in  the 
section  where  he  lives  and  labors  for  daily  support.  And 
besides  this,  he  is  left  to  seek  existence  in  the  midst  of  those 
classes  who  of  all  others  are  most  interested  in  demonstrating 
that  emancipation  is  a  failure ;  that  the  freedman  is  incapa 
ble  of  cultivating  those  things  that  pertain  to  dignified, 
honorable  life;  and  that  slavery  is  his  natural  and  normal 
condition.  Not  only  holding  the  lands,  the  old  slave-holding 
class  control  the  wealth  and  intelligence,  as  well  as  the 
social  and  governmental  appliances  of  that  section.  They 
are  masters  in  the  church,  masters  in  the  courts,  masters  in 
the  schools,  masters  in  politics,  masters  at  the  polls,  and 
masters  of  the  legislatures,  as  well  as  the  plantations,  directing 
and  controlling  according  to  their  caprices,  their  interests, 
their  prejudices,  and  their  predilections.  The  non-landhold- 
ing  white  of  the  South  must  do  their  bidding;  and  the  non- 
landholding  Negro,  also,  occupies  a  subservient  position  to 
them.  Depending,  then,  for  labor,  food,  clothing  and  shelter 
upon  his  former  master — the  property  holder — who  is  his 
abusive,  tyrannical  employer,  making  even  harder  exactions 
than  he  was  wont  to  make  of  him  when  a  slave,  the  condition 
of  the  freedman  is  certainly  sad. 
If  what  is  here  stated  with  regard  to  the  condition  of  the 


THE  EXODUS. 

freedman  be  true,  reasoniDg  a  priori,  to  say  the  least,  one 
might  naturally  conclude  that  the  measure  of  protection  ac 
corded  him  would  be  limited  and  inadequate;  that  his  indus 
trial  situation  and  prospects  would  be  anything  other  than 
prosperous  and  promising  ;  and  that  his  exercise  of  political 
powers  would  be  circumscribed  and  obstructed — as  far  as  pos 
sible  entirely  hindered. 

Mere  philosophying,  however,  finds  no  place  in  this  con 
nection.  The  facts  that  bear  upon  this  point  are  clear,  pos 
itive,  and  undeniable.  The  freedman  is  without  protection. 
His  condition  as  a  laborer,  whether  he  work  for  wages,  as  a 
share-farmer,  or  renter,  is  not  favorable;  indeed,  it  is  lament 
able;  while  as  a  voter,  it  is  well  known  that  he  cannot  safely 
cast  a  free  ballot  according  to  the  dictates  of  a  wise  and 
patriotic  judgment.  The  "bull-dozing"  record  ot  the  South 
is  well  understood,  and  the  knowledge  of  the  bloody  deeds  of 
its  instigators  and  supporters  is  widespread  and  fully  ap 
preciated  by  the  people  of  our  country.  Nor  do  his  appeals 
to  the  courts  of  justice  for  redress  of  wrong  meet  with  any  suc 
cess.  If  he  make  an  appeal  on  law  and  fact  to  a  jury  of  his 
fellow-citizens,  who  should,  even  from  their  own  interest,  if 
from  BO  other  and  higher  consideration,  do  him  justice,  what 
is  the  result  ?  Even  if  the  facts  be  plain  and  the  law  clear 
in  support  of  his  claim,  the  jury  disagree  ordinarily,  and  the 
judicial  remedy  which  would  naturally  work  him  justice  is  de 
feated  in  its  operation.  This  is  true  in  civil  as  well  as  crimi 
nal  proceedings,  especially  where  the  interests  of  the  landed 
class  as  against  the  freedman  are  involved.  In  this  regard 
the  black  man  seems  to  have  no  rights  which  the  white  man 
is  bound  to  respect. 

After  seventeen  years  of  emancipation,  in  a  condition  of 
life  even  worse  than  that  of  serfage,  in  struggles  against 
want  and  hardship,  taxing  his  utmost  endurance,  the  freed- 


240  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

man  has  at  last  discovered  his  real  situation  and  necessities, 
and  has  resolved,  if  possible,  to  relieve  himself  by  escaping 
thence.  What  more  natural  than  his  effort  in  this  regard, 
what  more  manly,  what  more  worthy  of  him  ?  What  effort 
is  better  calculated  to  relieve  him  of  his  servile  dependence? 
This  movement  is  a  declaration  of  the  purpose  of  the  freed- 
man  to  assert  and  maintain  that  independence  in  his  own 
behalf,  without  which  no  individual  and  no  people  can  rise 
to  the  level  of  dignified  and  honorable  manhood .  His  exodus, 
if  justified  on  no  other  ground,  is  justified  thoroughly  and 
entirely  by  the  fact  that  it  is,  on  his  part,  an  effort  to  relieve 
himself  of  his  present  condition  of  utter  dependence  upon 
the  old  slave-holding  class  which  he  has  served  so  faithfully 
in  the  past,  and  thus  secure  to  himself  the  fact  as  well  as 
the  consciousness  of  real  freedom. 

The  history  of  the  emancipated  classes  of  the  world, 
whether  they  have  been  serfs  or  slaves,  abundantly  sustains 
the  assertion  that  in  most  cases  in  which  emancipation  has 
occurred,  and  the  emancipated  class  has  been  left  under  the 
control  of  the  former  master  class,  in  the  midst  of  the  old 
associations  of  its  slavery,  upon  the  plantations  or  estates 
where  it  was  wont  to  labor,  such  class  thus  situated  and  thus 
controlled  does  not  and  cannot  rise  until  it  has  by  some 
means  freed  itself  from  the  dependence  connected  with 
such'condition.  It  remains,  in  fact,  in  a  servile  position, 
without  self-control,  self-reliance,  or  independent  character, 
without  the  purpose  to  make  earnest,  courageous  effort  to- 
accomplish  those  things  which  are  worthy  of  manhood. 

It  is  not  astonishing  that  centuries  of  enslavement  imbed 
in  the  very  soul  of  the  enslaved  the  spirit  of  servility  and 
d-ependence;  nor  is  it  astonishing  that  this  feeling  once  mas 
tering  the  soul  of  man,  holds  it  enchained  to  those  things 
which  work  degradation  and  ruin  to  freedom.  The  soul  of 


THE  EXODUS.  2.41 

man  is  only  relieved  of  this  feeling  as  it  becomes  conscious 
of  its  own  power  in  the  assertion  and  maintenance  of  its 
own  purposes  in  the  struggles  and  achievements  of  life.  And 
until  the  soul  is  emancipated  from  this  feeling,  man  does 
not  enjoy  real,  substantial  freedom.  While  one  man  leans 
against  another,  or  in  his  soul  fears  him,  he  is  subservient; 
and  in  his  subserviency  loses  his  freedom  as  he  does  the 
real  dignity  of  his  manhood.  And  this  is  especially  true  of 
a  class  once  enslaved. 

To  really  comprehend  the  condition  of  the  freed  class,  it 
is  necessary  to  understand  and  appreciate  that  on  the  part 
of  the  ex-master  class  there  still  exists  the  feeling  of  supe 
riority  ;  the  feeling  of  the  right  to  rule,  direct,  and,  in  fact,, 
to  own,  if  not  the  body  and  soul,  certainly  the  services  of 
its  former  slaves ;  while  on  the  part  of  the  dependent  and 
serving  class,  there  exists,  from  long  habit  connected  with 
its  slave  condition,  the  sense  of  inferiority,  of  subserviency 
— a  disposition  to  go  and  come  as  commanded.  Either  the 
relations  of  the  two  classes  must  be  changed  entirely,  and 
the  change  thoroughly  recognized  and  admitted  by  both,  or 
the  former  masters  will  attempt  the  continuance  of  their  old 
conduct  and  ways  of  mastership ;  while  the  other  class,  not 
conscious  of  its  freedom,  will  continue  to  serve  as  formerly 
from  fear  and  force  of  habit,  their  freedom  being  only  rec 
ognized  as  something  ideal,  without  the  practical  benefits 
which  it  should  bring. 

If  there  be  any  doubts  in  the  mind  of  any  intelligent  per 
son  in  regard  to  this  matter,  he  has  onlj-  to  read  carefully 
the  history  of  the  emancipation  of  the  serf  of  Russia  and 
consider  his  present  condition  ;  the  history  of  the  West 
India  bondman  and  consider  his  situation,  to  be  entirely 
convinced  that  the  statement  is  true.  Wallace,  in  dwelling 
upon  the  emancipation  of  the  serfs  in  Russia  and  in  con- 


242  FEEEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

sidering  the  question  as  to  how  their  condition  may  be  im 
proved,  states,  in  addition  to  other  considerations  offered, 
that  "  it  would  be  well  to  organize  an  extensive  system  of 
emigration  by  which  a  portion  of  the  peasantry  would  be 
transferred  from  the  barren  soil  of  the  North  and  West  to 
the  rich  fertile  lands  of  the  Eastern  provinces." 

It  may  be  claimed  that  in  this  case  the  only  reason  why 
emigration  is  recommended  is  that  the  emancipation  law 
did  not  confer  upon  the  peasants  of  Russia  as  much  land 
as  they  required,  and  consequently  the  peasant,  who  has 
merely  his  legal  portion,  has  neither  enough  work  nor  enough 
revenue.  But  to  one  who  considers  the  case  of  the  Russian 
serf  dispassionately  and  with  care,  it  will  be  apparent  that 
the  real  difficulty  in  his  case  is  that  although  provision  has 
been  made  for  him,  as  far  as  land  is  concerned,  he  has  been 
left  practically  in  a  state  of  dependence,  if  not  upon  the 
land  proprietors,  upoii  the  Commune ;  and  up  to  this  time 
has  not  been  able — discovering  his  real  condition — to  assert 
his  independence  of  surroundings  which  tend  to  hold  him 
in  servile  position.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  three 
fundamental  principles  of  the  law  of  emancipation  in  Rus 
sia  were,  as  stated  by  Wallace,  first,  that  the  serf  should  at 
once  receive  the  civil  rights  of  the  free  rural  class  and  that 
the  authority  of  the  proprietor  should  be  replaced  by  Com 
munal  self-government;  second,  that  the  rural  Communes 
should,  as  far  as  possible,  retain  the  land  they  actually  held, 
and  should  in  return  pay  to  the  proprietor  certain  yearly 
dues  in  money  and  labor ;  third,  that  the  government  should, 
by  means  of  credit,  assist  the  Communes  to  redeem  these 
dues,  or,  in  other  words,  to  purchase  the  lands  ceded  to  them 
in  usufruct.  These  conditions  constitute  the  substantial 
features  of  the  emancipation  law  of  Russia.  Upon  close 
examination  of  these  provisions,  it  will  be  discovered  that 


THE  EXODUS.  243 

although  the  emancipated  serf  is  given,  through  the  Com 
mune,  an  interest  in  the  soil,  he  is  not  relieved  of  a  depend 
ence  which,  in  fact,  keeps  him  in  a  servile  condition;  and 
until  he  has  that  freedom,  which  is  indispensable  to  the 
cultivation  of  tke  highest  possibilities  of  honorable  man 
hood,  he  will  be  restless  and  his  condition  unsatisfactory,  as 
it  is  unfortunate  and  unhappy.  Let  him  but  change  his  * 
condition,  emigrating  from  the  old  places  so  familiar  to  him, 
where  his  oppression  and  his  real  condition  can  never  be  for 
gotten,  and  settling  in  our  own  new  and  free  country,  where 
the  blessings  of  liberty  are  guaranteed  to  every  son  and 
daughter  of  any  and  all  nationalities,  without  money  and 
without  price,  without  stint,  and  without  limit  other  than 
legal,  and  he  enters  upon  new  life,  with  new  prosperity  and 
new  joy.  It  is  emigration  with  its  new  conditions  that 
gives  to  him  and  his  posterity,  the  blessings  of  real  free 
dom,  which  are  more  precious  than  rubies,  more  to  be  de 
sired  than  any  other  human  possession. 

But  that  we  may  understand  this  subject  from  the  slave- 
holding  standpoint  rather  than  that  of  serfage,  and  as  con 
nected  with  our  own  rather  than  the  Eastern  continent,  it 
may  be  well  to  consider  for  a  moment  the  condition  of  the 
emancipated  bondman  of  the  West  India  Islands.  Here 
reference  need  only  be  made  to  the  Islands  of  Barbados  and 
Trinidad.  In  an  excellent  little  work,  entitled  "The  Ordeal 
of  Free  Labor  in  the  West  Indies,"  written  by  William  G. 
Sewell,  it  is  stated,  in  speaking  of  the  condition  of  the  labor 
ers  in  the  former  island,  that :  "Under  the  new  practice,  still 
in  force,  a  laborer  has  a  house  and  land-allotment  on  an 
estate  for  which  he  pays  a  stipulated  rent;  but  he  is  under  an 
engagement  besides,  as  a  condition  of  renting,  to  give  to 
the  estate  a  certain  number  of  days'  labor  at  certain  stipu- 
wages,  varying  from  one-sixth  to  one-third  less  than 


244  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

the  market  price.  The  rate  of  wages  in  Barbados  is  about 
twenty-four  cents  per  day ;  but  the  laborer,  fettered  by  the 
system  of  tenancy-at-will,  is  compelled  to  work  for  his  land 
lord  at  twenty  cents  per  day.  He  is,  therefore,  virtually  a 
slave;  for  if  he  resists  the  condition  of  his  bond  he  is 
ejected  by  summary  process,  and  loses  the  profit  he  hoped 
to  reap  upon  his  little  stock.  This  remnant  of  coercion  must 
be  abolished  wherever  it  exists — and  it  prevails,  with  some 
exceptions,  in  all  the  West  India  colonies — before  it  can  be 
said  that  emancipation  has  been  thoroughly  tested."  After 
making  this  statement  the  author  gives  account  of  the 
organization  of  an  association  in  Barbados  for  the  improve 
ment  of  the  social  and  moral  condition  of  the  laboring  pop 
ulation,  stating  that  in  the  preamble  to  the  resolutions 
adopted  at  the  first  meeting  thereof,  it  was  declared  that 
"  one  of  the  main  barriers  to  social  progress  "  in  the  island 
"  arose  from  a  want  of  confidence  between  the  employer 
and  the  employed."  He  regrets  the  fact  that  the  proprietor- 
body  set  their  faces  at  once  against  this  movement,  and  he 
says  :  "  The  planters,  tenacious  of  their  privileges  and  like 
aristocracies  all  the  world  over,  anxious  to  retain  their  power 
over  the  masses,  met  to  counteract  the  new  movement, 
denounced  the  society  for  attempting  to  arouse  unjust  sus 
picions  in  the  minds  of  the  ignorant  touching  their  rights, 
viewing  with  alarm  and  as  a  political  movement  the  demand 
for  a  more  liberal  tenure,  and  as  an  effort  to  jeopardize  the 
successful  system  of  plantation  management"  as  adopted. 
They  maintained  that  the  bost  of  feeling  existed  between 
them  and  their  tenants;  and,  finally,  they  declared  their 
inherent  right  to  adopt  such  measures  as  they  might  think 
fit  for  the  good  government,  safety,  and  well-doing  of  their 
properties.  Here  is  the  master  class  asserting  its  right  to 
be  masters,  and  in  effect  believing  it  to  be  the  duty  of  the 


THE  EXODUS.  246 

laborer,  even  when  emancipated,  to  consent  to  remain  in 
a  servile  and  slavish  attitude. 

If  we  turn  from  Barbados  to  Trinidad,  it  will  be  found 
that  the  people  in  the  latter  island,. having  left  the  estates 
upon  which  they  were  slaves,  and  thus  exchanged  a  condition 
of  servitude  for  one  of  independence,  "  as,  a  natural  con 
sequence  are  more  enlightened,  better  educated,  and  more 
wealthy  than  their  brethren  in  Barbados."  Herein,  claims 
Mr,  Sewell,  we  discover  the  distinction  that  should  be  made 
between  the  Negroes  in  Trinidad  and  in  the  other  islands 
where  they  have  been  able  to  leave  the  estates-  and  work  for 
themselves,  and  those  in  Barbados,  where,  by  force  of  cir 
cumstances,  they  have  been  compelled  to  remain  on  the  es 
tates  and  work  for  others. 

While  it  is  true  that  in  Barbados  the  ex-slave  has  shown 
himself  a  valuable  and  persistent  laborer,  to  such  a  degree 
and  extent  that  that  island  is  said  to  be  in  its  culture  a  beauti 
ful  garden,  unnatural,  unjust  distinctions,  on  account  of  color, 
exist  to  this  day,  against  the  black  and  mulatto  classes,  and 
it  may  be  said  that  the  real  condition  of  such  classes  is  that 
of  the  free  Negro  where  his  social  and  civil  rights  are  not 
recognized  and  respected. 

Under  the  title  of  "  Social  Distinctions  in  Barbados,"  the 
author  to  whom  I  refer  states  that  "  the  distinctions  of  caste 
are  more  strikingly  observed  in  Barbados  than  in  any  other 
British  West  India  colony.  No  person,  male  or  female,  with 
the  slightest  taint  of  African  blood  is  admitted  to  white  so 
ciety.  No  matter  what  the  standing  of  a  father,  his  influence 
cannot  secure  for  his  colored  offspring  the  social  status  that 
he  himself  occupies ;  and  the  rule  is  more  rigidly  carried  out 
among  women  than  it  is  among  the  men." 

Dwelling  still  on  this  subject,  Mr.  Sewell  says:  "But 
when  he  (the  Barbadian  planter)  and  all  the  other  white  in- 


246  FEEEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

habitants  of  the  island  make  a  difference  of  color  their  only 
line  of  distinction,  and  parade  their  reasons  in  an  offensive 
and  obnoxious  way — when  white  planters  refuse  to  associate 
with  colored  planters,  white  merchants  with  colored  mer 
chants,  and  white  mechanics  with  colored  mechanics — simply 
because  they  are  colored,  the  question  ceases  to  be  a  purely 
social  one  and  assumes  a  dangerous  political  complexion, 
As  long  as  the  colored  people  were  slaves,  their  heart-burn 
ings  and  jealousies  might  be  disregarded  with  impunity  or 
contemptuously  ignored.  But  freedom  has  opened  to  them 
the  way  to  progress  and  power,  and  if  their  present  progress 
and  present  power  have  proved,  as  they  have  proved,  that 
color  is  no  insuperable  barrier  to  social,  intellectual  devel 
opment  and  refinement,  it  is  but  wise  to  make  it  no  longer 
an  insuperable  barrier  to  social  advancement." 

But  such  social  discriminations  are  apt  to  continue,  fos 
tered  always  and  everywhere  by  the  master  class  against 
the  laborer,  especially  if  the  latter  has  been  a  slave,  and,  on 
his  being  emancipated,  is  left  thereafter  in  the  conditions 
and  under  the  control  which  were  connected  with  his  en 
slavement.  Such  distinctions  will  last  until,  by  some  manly 
utterance  or  courageous  deed,  he  demonstrates  his  indepen 
dence  of  the  old  servile  condition,  and  his  capacity  to  dare 
and  achieve  upon  his  self-reliance,  as  a  fearless,  indepen 
dent  man.  It  is  in  recognition  of  the  principle  here  elabo 
rated  that  Cassagnac,  in  his  "  History  of  the  Working  and 
Burgher  Classes,"  in  speaking  of  the  mode  of  emancipation 
in  France  and  the  allotments  of  land  allowed  upon  leases 
made  with  regard  thereto,  especially  the  contracts  made  for 
long  terms,  removing  thereby  the  emancipated  far  from  the 
influence  and  control  of  the  former  master  class,  says  :  "This 
kind  of  contract  had  this  advantage,  that  when  they  were 
for  a  long  term,  as,  for  example,  for  three  generations,  a  cent- 


THE  EXODUS.  247 

ury  passed,  during  which  the  action  of  the  master  upon  the 
slave  was  restrained  and  weakened ;  while  the  slave,  almost 
free  in  fact,  acquired  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  father 
of  a  family,  became  industrious,  economical,  settled,  prudent, 
accumulated  small  profits  and  left  them  to  his  children.  At 
the  end  of  a  century,  when  three  generations  had  passed 
away,  the  master  was  much  less  a  master,  the  slave  was 
much  less  a  slave.  Both  had  forgotten  whence  they  came 
by  only  seeing  where  they  stood." 

The  inference  to  be  drawn  frpm  the  facts  adduced  is  this  : 
In  proportion  as  the  emancipated  class  is  relieved  of  the 
presence  and  control  of  the  class  formerly  owners  and  mas 
ters,  from  the  conditions  of  its  former  enslavement,  the 
spirit  of  servility  is  removed  and  that  of  self-assertion,  self- 
reliance,  and  independence  is  cultivated,  while  steady,  solid 
progress  is  made  in  the  accumulation  of  the  valuable  fruits 
of  industry. 

The  feeling  too  generally  entertained  by  the  old  master 
toward  his  former  slave,  and  by  the  latter  toward  the  former, 
after  emancipation,  is  strikingly  illustrated  in  the  story  told 
by  Herodotus  with  respect  to  the  Scythian,  who  advised  his- 
comrades  as  to  the  manner  in  which  they  should  meet  and 
resist  the  army  of  their  slaves,  who,  having  taken  possession 
of  their  households,  their  wives,  and  the  management  of  pub 
lic  affairs,  resisted  them  on  their  return  from  a  protacted 
military  expedition.  He  counselled  his  comrades  to  throw 
away  their  weapons,  their  arrows  and  their  darts,  and  meet 
their  opponents  without  any  means  of  defence  save  the  whips 
which  they  used  upon  their  horses.  Said  he  :  "  Whilst  they 
see  us  with  arms,  they  think  themselves  our  equals  in  birth 
and  importance  ;  but  as  soon  as  they  shall  see  us  with  whips 
in  our  hands,  they  will  be  impressed  with  a  sense  of  their 
servile  condition,  and  resist  no  longer,"  The  historian  re- 


248  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

ports  that  the  plan  suggested  was  adopted,  and  proved  to  be 
entirely  successful. 

How  shall  the  American  ex-slave,  who  has  served  for  two 
hundred  and  forty-five  years  under  the  influence  of  which  I 
speak,  be  relieved  of  the  presence  and  control  of  a  class  here 
tofore  his  masters  ?  The  history  of  the  world  offers  but  one 
solution  of  this  question,  and  that  solution  is  found  in  his 
exodus.  Let  him  go  forth;  and  where  sympathy  and  the 
recognition  of  liberty  and  equal  rights  are  accorded  him  ; 
where  labor  is  to  be  performed ;  where  struggle  is  to  be  made ; 
where  the  stern  realities  of  life  are  to  be  met,  there  let  him 
demonstrate  his  courage,  his  self-reliance,  his  manly  inde 
pendence.  Under  such  new  conditions  his  capacities,  his 
powers  and  his  efforts  will  win  the  crown  which  befits  the 
brow  of  noble  manhood. 

The  exodus  of  the  colored  American  is  intimately  con 
nected  with  and  inseparable  from  the  continued  existence  of 
the  old  order  of  things  in  the  South.  Up  to  this  time  there 
seems  to  have  been  in  this  regard  practically  little,  if  any, 
change.  It  is  very  true  that  a  few  plantations,  compara 
tively  speaking,  have  changed  hands ;  a  few  even  of  the 
former  slave  class  have  here  and  there  possessed  themselves 
of  small  homes,  have  bought  small  pieces  of  land,  and  erected 
thereon  small  houses;  but  "the  great  house"  has  not  dis 
appeared,  nor  has  the  Negro  quarter ;  and  in  some  of  the 
Southern  States  the  old  whipping-post,  with  its  proverbial 
thirty-nine  lashes,  is  still  recognized  as  a  judicial  institution. 
Nor  have  the  modes  of  industry,  or  the  crops  grown  in  that 
section,  been  materially  changed.  Cotton  and  sugar  are  the 
chief  products  of  the  South  to-day,  as  they  were  a  half  cent 
ury  ago.  Nor  has  there  been  any  change,  certainly  no  gen 
eral  and  fundamental  change,  in  the  feelings  and  purposes  of 
the  old  slave-holding  class  as  to  their  right  to  work,  drive, 


THE  EXODUS.  249 

and  scourge  the  Negro  laborer.  Having  been  bis  master  once, 
tbeir  conduct  would  indicate  that  they  believe,  even  in  spite 
of  the  action  of  the  General  Government  and  the  results  of 
our  great  war,  that  their  mastership  is  to  continue  forever. 
Nor  has  the  feeling  of  the  non-slaveholding  class  of  the 
South  undergone  any  material'  change  with  respect  to  the 
freed  man.  Indeed,  it  seems  to  be  true  that  this  class  hates 
the  colored  man  more  now  than  when  he  was  a  slave ;  and 
stands  ready  at  the  command  of  the  aristocratic  class  to  doits 
bidding,  even  to  the  shedding  of  his  blood.  As  showing  that 
this  condition  of  affairs  is  true  and  that  little  advancement 
has  been  made,  one  has  only  to  pronounce  in  your  hearing 
certain  terrible  words  coinedln  connection  with  the  barbar 
ous,  cruel  treatment  thatjhas  been  meted  out  to  the  emanci 
pated  class  of  Mississippi,  Louisiana,  and  other  States  form 
erly  slaveholding.  What  is  the  meaning  of  the  frightful 
words,  "Klu-Klux,"  "Bull-dozers  ;"  and  the  terrible  ex 
pression,  "  the  shot-gun  or  Mississippi  policy  ?"  The  meaning 
is  clear.  It  is  that^neither  the  old  slaveholding  spirit,  nor 
the  old  slaveholding^purpose  or  control  is  dead  in  the  South  ; 
that  plantocracy,  with  its  fearful  power  and  influences,  has 
not  passed  away;  that  the  colored  American  under  it  is  in  a 
condition  of  practical  enslavement,  trodden  down  and  out 
raged  by  those  who  exercise  control  over  him.  Such  things 
will  continue  so  long  as  the'spirit  of  slavery  exists  in  the 
South ;  so  long  as  the  old  master  class  is  in  power ;  so  long 
as  the  freed  man  consents  to  remain  in  a  condition  more  terri 
ble  than  any  serfage  of  which  history  'gives  account.  How 
can  this  condition  of  thing?  be  broken  up  ?  How  can  the 
planter-rule  be  changed?  How  can  the  master  class  be  made 
to  realize  that  it  is  no  longer  slaveholding,  and  that  the  slave 
has  been  set  free?  And  how  can  the  freedman  be  made  to 
feal  and  realiza  that  hiving  b33n  emancipated,  practical  lib- 


250  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

erty  is  within  his  reach,  and  that  it  is  his  duty  to  accept  and 
enjoy  it  in  its  richest  fruits  ;  fearing  neither  the  responsibili 
ties  of  enfranchised  manhood,  nor  trembling  as  a  coward  in 
the  presence  of  trials  and  dangers? 

To  the  intelligent  and  sagacious  inquirer,  who,  without 
feeling,  without  passion,  but  philosophically  and  in  a  states 
man-like  manner  considers  this  matter,  there  can  be,  as  it 
seems  to  me,  but  a  single  answer.  It  is  this :  Let  the  freed- 
man  of  the  South,  as  far  as  practicable,  take  from  the  old 
plantocracy,  by  his  exodus,  the  strong  arms,  broad  shoulders, 
stalwart  bodies,  which,  by  compulsion,  have  been  made  to 
prop  and  sustain  such  system  too  long  already  in  this  day  of 
freedom.  Let  him  stand  from  beneath  and  the  fabric  will 
fall,  and  a  new  and  necessary  reconstruction  will  follow. 

But  is  it  possible  to  transfer  a]l  the  freedmen  from  the 
Southern  part  of  the  country  ?  Perhaps  not.  It  is,  however, 
possible  and  practicable  to  so  reduce  the  colored  laborers  of 
the  South  by  emigration  to  the  various  Slates  of  the  North 
and  West,  as  to  compel  the  land-holders — the  planters — to 
make  and  to  observe  reasonable  contracts  with  those  who  re 
main  ;  to  compel  all  white  classes  there  to  act  in  good  faith  ? 
and  address  themselves  to  the  necessary  labor  upon  the  plan 
tation,  as  well  as  elsewhere ;  obeying  the  law  and  respecting 
the  rights  of  their  neighbors. 

Thus  the  old  order  of  things  would  be  speedily  changed, 
and  the  industrial  interests  of  that  section  greatly  advanced  ; 
while  the  civil  and  political  rights  of  all  would  be,  through 
necessity,  respected  and  sustained.  Even  the  exodus  move 
ment  just  commenced,  small  as  it  is,  insignificant  as  it  appears 
to  be,  has  produced  in  this  regard  a  state  of  feeling  in  the 
South  which  justifies  entirely  the  opinion  here  expressed. 

It  is  well  to  recollect  that  in  the  South  we  find  a  barren,. 
effete  civilization — a  civilization  the  natural  product  of  sla- 


THE  EXODUS.  251 

very  and  slave-holding  institutions.  The  school,  the  college, 
the  institution  of  learning,  publicly  or  privately  established 
by  the  State  or  in  connection  with  the  church,  has  not  taken 
deep  root  there,  bearing  fruit  in  natural  abundance.  The 
masses  of  the  freed  people  are  illiterate.  How  could  it  be 
otherwise?  But  a  large  portion  of  the  whites  are  also  illit 
erate.  The  existence  of  slavery  accounts  for  the  condition  of 
both  these  classes  in  this  respect.  All  those  things  which  ap 
pertain  to  an  advancing  civilization — healthful,  vigorous  and 
manly — seem  to  be  wanting  in  the  Southern  section  of  our 
country. 

Let  the  freedman  come  to  the  North,  let  him  go  to  the 
West,  and  his  contact  with  new  men,  new  things,  a  new  order 
of  life,  new  moral  and  educational  influences  will  advance 
him  in  the  scale  of  being  in  an  incomparably  short  time,  even 
beyond,  the  expectations  of  the  most  sanguine.  In  his  new 
home  he  will  cultivate  personal  independence  and  free  thought, 
acquiring  in  the  meantime  experience,  knowledge  and  wisdom, 
which  will  enlarge  his  mind,  ennoble  his  soul,  and  fit  him  for 
those  higher  walks  of  life,  as  merchant,  mechanic,  lawyer, 
doctor,  minister,  scientist  or  scholar.  In  other  words  still, 
the  same  benefits,  the  same  blessings  enjoyed  by  the  new 
comer  from  Ireland,  England,  and  other  foreign  countries, 
tending  so  largely  to  elevate  the  thought,  the  purposes  of 
such  person,  will  be  given  to  the  ex-slave,  and  operate  with 
equal  power  in  the  improvement  of  his  mind  and  condition. 

But  as  things  are  at  present  constituted  in  the  South,  the 
old  methods  of  slavery  and  slave  labor  still  prevailing,  there 
is  a  large  excess  of  laborers  in  that  section.  It  is  to  be  re 
membered  that  in  slavery  seven  men,  at  least,  were  required 
to  do  the  work  of  a  single  man  in  freedom.  The  exodus  works 
at  once  the  salvation  of  such  surplus  laborers  by  furnishing 


252  FEEEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

•them  a  field  for  their  muscle  and  labor  in  the  unimproved 
acres  of  the  West  and  North,  thus  not  only  benefiting  them, 
but  aiding  in  the  development  of  the  sections  where  they 
may  locate.  This  consideration  the  people  of  the  West  and 
North  appreciate,  and  their  invitation  to  the  poor  freedman 
comes  from  them  cordially  and  heartily.  Cassagnac,  in  his 
work  heretofore  referred  to — "  The  History  of  the  Working 
and  Burgher  Classes" — in  dwelling  upon  the  Proletariat, 
says  that  it  embraces  :  First,  working  men  ;«  second,  mendi 
cants  ;  third,  thieves ;  and  fourth,  women  of  the  town.  In  ex 
plaining  what  he  means  by  these  several  designations,  he 
states  that  a  working  man  is  a  proletary  who  works  and  gains 
wages  for  a  living  ;  a  mendicant  is  a  proletary  who  will  not 
or  cannot  work,  and  who  begs  for  a  living;  a  thief  is  a  pro 
letary  who  will  neither  work  nor  beg,  and  who  steals  for  a 
living ;  a  woman  of  the  town  is  a  proletary  who  will  neither 
work  nor  beg  nor  steal,  and  who  prostitutes  herself  for  a  liv 
ing.  As  the  friend  of  the  freedman,  as  one  who  would  see 
him  other  and  better  than  either  of  the  classes  here  named 
composing  the  Proletariat  of  Cassagnac ;  who  would  see  him 
more  than  the  ordinary  working  man  in  the  sense  explained ; 
who  would  see  him  a  landholder  and  owner ;  who  would  see 
him  master,  as  he  is  father,  of  his  own  household,  rearing  his 
family  and  his  children  in  the  fear  and  the  admonition  of  his 
Heavenly  Father ;  growing  sons,  indeed,  to  the  State,  with 
shoulders  broad  and  Atlantean,  fit  to  bear  the  responsibilities 
of  earnest,  dignified,  manly  life,  I  do  not  fear  but  approve 
and  advocate  his  emigration. 

Where  shall  he  go  ?  It  has  already  been  indicated  that 
the  North  and  the  West  furnish  the  localities  open  for  the 
freedman,  and  to  which  he  should  go.  It  certainly  would  not 
be  wise  for  him  in  large  numbers  to  settle  in  any  one  State  of 
the  Union ;  but  even  in  thousands  he  would  be  received  and 


THE  EXODUS.  253 

welcomed  to  kind,  hospitable  homes  in  the  various  States  of 
the  sections  named,  where  labor,  educational  advantages,  and 
the  opportunity  to  rise  as  a  man,  a  citizen  and  a  voter  would 
be  furnished  him. 

B  ut  to  his  emigration  there  are  objections  : 

First.  It  is  claimed  that  the  Negro  should  remain  in  the 
South,  and  demand  of  the  Government  protection  from  the 
wrongs  which  are  perpetrated  against  him,  it  being  asserted  that 
for  him  to  emigrate  at  this  time  therefrom  is  to  surrender  the 
fundamental  principle  of  protection  which  is  guaranteed  him, 
as  well  as  every  other  citizen  of  the  Republic,  by  the  Consti 
tution  of  the  United  States.  Here  it  must  be  remembered 
that  in  emigrating  from  the  South  to  the  North  the  freedman 
is  simply  moving  from  one  section  of  our  common  country  to 
another,  simply  exercising  his  individual  right  to  go  when 
and  where  it  suits  his  convenience  and  his  advantage.  In  the 
next  place,  it  is  the  exercise  of  such  constitutional  right  that 
he  leaves  a  section  of  the  country  where  slavery  has  created 
a  barbarous  and  oppressive  public  sentiment,  the  source  of  all 
the  abuses  which  he  suffers,  and  which  it  is  impossible,  cer 
tainly  impracticable,  to  reach  and  eradicate  by  any  legisla 
tive  enactment  had  by  the  General  Government,  or  by  any 
legal  fiat ;  and  which,  in  fact,  can  only  be  changed  and  im 
proved  by  educational  and  moral  appliances  brought  to  bear 
upon  the  masses  of  the  people  of  the  South  for  an  indefinite 
period.  This  objection  is  urged,  too,  in  disregard  both  of  the 
considerations  just  now  suggested,  in  reply  thereto,  and  in 
disregard  of  the  fact  that  the  freedman  emigrating  to  the 
North  or  West  puts  himself  in  far  better  condition  than  he 
is  in  the  South,  in  every  sense;  while  he  makes  himself  use 
ful  upon  a  larger  and  better  scale  to  the  country  generally. 

But  it  may  be  claimed,  and  doubtless  is,  that  if  the  freed 
man  leaves  the  South  under  the  oppressions  which  are  heaped 


254  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

upon  him,  he  yields  to  an  unconstitutional  proceeding  on  the 
part  of  the  dominant  classes,  and  thus  weakens,  if  he  does 
not  surrender,  the  right  to  demand  protection  generally.  In 
answer  to  this  opinion  it  may  be  justly  replied,  that  the 
freedman  has  a  right  to  protection,  and  it  ought  to  be  granted 
to  him  at  once,  if  possible ;  but  it  can  hardly  be  required  of 
the  freedman  who  desires  to  leave  the  South  to  remain  in  his 
present  condition  and  sacrifice  himself,  make  himself  a  martyr 
in  such  manner. 

Secondly.  It  is  claimed  that  the  freedman  cannot  endure 
a  northern  and  western  climate.  It  is  said  that  the  winters 
of  these  sections  are  too  severe  for  him  ;  that  in  their  chill 
ing  winds,  their  biting  frosts,  their  deep,  freezing  snows,  he 
will  find  himself  sickening  and  speedily  dying.  Upon  what 
facts  and  data  this  opinion  is  presented  and  sustained  it  is 
difficult  to  imagine.  It  is  true,  as  justified  by  observation, 
and  as  facts  and  figures  would  show,  could  they  be  secured, 
that  the  colored  man  as  he  goes  north  into  colder  regions 
adapts  himself  with  ease  to  the  climate.  While  it  is  true 
that  in  no  part  of  our  country  does  the  colored  man  show 
more  robust  health,  finer  physical  development  and  endur 
ance,  and  consequent  longevity,  than  in  the  northern  and 
western  portions  of  our  country.  In  fact  so  much  is  this  the 
case  that  latterly  it  has  become  a  thing  of  general  observa 
tion  and  remark.  It  is  where  the  zymotic  and  malarial  dis 
orders  prevail  that  the  Negro  sickens  and  dies ;  and  this  is 
abundantly  shown  in  the  fearful  death  rate  that  is  given  by 
sanitarians  as  connected  with  the  warm  and  tropical  regions 
of  our  own  and  other  countries.* 


*The  following  statements  will  show  the  difference  in  death  rate  in  several 
of  the  Southern  cities  as  compared  with  alike  number  of  Northern  cities  for 
the  year  1878 : 

The  death  rate  per  1,000  of  population  during  that  year  ran  as  follows : 
New  York  city,  24  »3 ;  New  Orleans,  (exclusive  of  deaths  from  yellow  fever,) 


THE  EXODUS.  255 

In  the  third  place  it  is  objected  that  if  there  is  any  con 
siderable  emigration  from  the  South  the  freed  men  who  are 
left  behind  will  be  forgotten — their  case  ignored.  But  if 
the  views  already  presented  be  correct,  if  emigration  will 
work  the  results  which  are  claimed,  then  this  objection  is 
fully  and  completely  met.  The  old  plantocracy  is  abolished ; 
the  slave  system  is  entirely  overthrown  and  the  industrial 
systems  of  the  South  reconstructed ;  all  oppressions  and 
abuses  are  removed ;  protection  and  fair  wages  with  the  pros 
pect  of  general  agricultural  improvement  and  the  enjoyment 
of  all  civil  and  political  rights  are  guaranteed  ;  and  thus  the 
vexatious  Southern  problem  is  solved. 

Again  it  is  urged  that  the  freedman  is  too  poor  to  emigrate. 
Those  who  urge  this  objection  ought  to  remember  that  it 
is  the  poor  and  oppressed  in  all  ages  and  in  all  countries 
who  have  emigrated.  One  never  emigrates  only  as  he  seeks 
to  improve  his  condition,  to  relieve  himself  and  family  of 
want,  to  escape  oppression  and  abuse,  to  gain  such  position 
as  that,  while  he  enjoys  his  freedom  and  rights,  it  is  possible 
for  him  to  cultivate  as  to  himself  and  his  children  those  cir 
cumstances  of  property,  wealth,  and  intellectual,  and  moral, 
and  religious  culture,  which  distinguish  desirable,  wise,  hu 
man  existence. 

Is  it  wise  for  the  poor,  starving,  oppressed  Irishman  to 
quit  the  country  of  his  nativity  to  seek  a  new  home  in  our 
goodly  land,  where  opportunities  of  culture,  the  accumula- 


30.02;  Philadelphia,  17  96  ;  Savannah,  30  25:  Cincinnati,  17.23;  Mobile,  23  02  ; 
Chicago,  16.50;  Nashville,  23.11  ;  Cleveland,  16.72  ;  Jacksonville,  21  10  ;  Mil 
waukee,  14.35;  Augusta,  18  33  ;  Boston,  21.53;  Charleston,  S.  C.,  28  98 

In  the  city  of  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  the  death  rate  of  the  •white  pop 
ulation  was  20.95,  while  that  of  the  colored  was  35  14.  In  the  district  of  Co 
lumbia,  the  death  rates  of  whites  was  36.37  ;  while  the  colored  was  32  24.  In 
all  the  Southern  cities  where  the  death  rate  is  given  comparatively,  that  of 
the  colored  race  far  exceeds  the  whkes,  and  the  very  large  number  of  deaths 
among  the  colored  people  resulting  from  what  is  known  as  the  zymotic  or  pre 
ventable  diseases  is  especially  noticed. 


256  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

tion  of  wealth,  advancement  and  success  await  his  endeavors? 
From  whom  comes  the  negative  response  ?  Then  let  no> 
man  either  despise  or  oppose  the  exodus  of  the  freedman, 
who  now,  realizing  his  real  condition,  emigrates  from  the 
old  plantation  and  Negro  quarter,  from  the  scenes  of  his 
former  enslavement,  from  the  hateful  and  oppressive  con 
trol  of  a  stupid  and  tyrannical  landed  aristocracy,  from  pov 
erty,  from  ignorance,  from  degradation  to  a  home  among 
those  who  value  freedom,  free  institutions,  educational  and 
material,  moral  and  Christian  worth,  individual  effort  and 
achievement — to  a  home  among  those  who,  loyal  to  God  and 
man,  never  fail  to  give  sympathy,  succor  and  hospitable 
welcome  to  the  needy  son  of  Ireland,  or  the  yet  more  needy 
son  of  Mississippi,  who  comes  seeking  not  only  liberty,  but 
the  opportunity  to  labor,  to  live,  and  achieve  in  their 
midst. 

Our  own  national  experience  furnishes  a  valuable  lesson 
upon  the  subject  under  consideration;  and  pondering  such 
lesson  wisely,  the  freedman  and  his  family  will  do  well  to- 
act  in  its  light.  This  lesson  is  presented  in  the  two-fold 
character  of  individual  and  family  emigration,  and  the  suc 
cess  and  prosperity  gained  in  connection  therewith. 

The  family  of  a  New  England  farmer  is  numerous.  His- 
sons  are  not  needed  at  home;  and  there  is  no  remunerative 
labor,  manual  or  other,  to  be  had  in  the  community  where 
this  family  lives.  What  is  done  ?  What  has  always  been 
done  in  such  families  under  such  circumstances  ?  Let  the 
well-ordered  and  worthy  household,  the  beautiful,  fertile  and 
productive  farm,  the  substantial  and  enduring  success,  the 
political,  the  official,  or  the  professional  distinction  which 
have  been  gained,  and  which  now  belong  to  the  eldest  son 
of  such  family,  who,  leaving  home,  settled  fifty  years  ago  in 


THE  EXODUS.  257 

one  of  our  nearer  or  more  remote  Western  States,  give  the 
answer.  But  the  community  is  overcrowded.  Whole  fam 
ilies  are  without  work  and  pinching  want  seems  to  be  near 
the  door.  What  has  been,  and  what  is  done  in  such  cases? 
We  know  full  well ;  for  the  populous,  rich,  prosperous,  grow 
ing,  vigorous,  matchless  West,  with  its  thousands  of  free, 
Christian  homes,  noble  sons,  intelligent,  heroic  daughters, 
makes  the  answer  in  full,  clear,  positive,  eloquent  manner. 

Then,  too,  in  Ohio,  Michigan,  Indiana,  not  to  mention 
other  States  in  connection  with  which  the  same  thing  is  true, 
the  colored  American  has  moved  heretofore  from  the  South, 
and  establishing  settlements  in  the  States  named,  has  proved 
by  his  complete  success  the  benefit  and  advantages  of  emi 
gration.  His  rich  and  prosperous  settlements  in  Pike  county, 
Ohio,  and  in  Cass  county,  Michigan,  deserve  in  this  connec 
tion  special  mention.  But  why  dwell  on  these  facts  ?  For 
the  colored  man  is  seen  now  in  all  parts  of  the  North ;  and 
wherever  he  is,  earnest,  sober,  and  industrious,  he  makes 
reasonable  advancement,  commendable  progress,  in  the  hon 
est  ways  of  life. 

In  view,  then  of  the  considerations  presented ;  to  secure  the 
highest  good  of  all  the  parties  concerned  by  the  overthrow 
of  the  plantocracy  of  the  South  and  the  reconstruction  of 
the  industrial  system  of  that  section,  on  the  basis  of  free 
labor,  justice,  and  fair  dealing ;  to  relieve  the  ex-slave  from 
his  dependent  and  practical  slavery,  and  while  giving  him 
the  fact  and  consciousness  of  his  freedom  and  independence, 
furnish  him  the  opportunity  to  cultivate,  not  only  ordinary 
labor,  but  to  build  up  his  present  interests,  industrial,  mate 
rial,  educational,  and  moral,  with  reference  to  that  future  of 
which  his  past  conduct,  his  capabilities  and  powers,  his 
loyal  and  Christian  devotion,  give  such  reasonable  promise, 


258  FEEEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

I  do  most  reverently  and  heartily  accept  the  lesson  contained 
in  the  words — 

"I  have  surely  seen  the  affliction  of  my  people  which  are 
in  Egypt,  and  have  heard  their  cry  by  reason  of  their  task 
masters  ;  for  I  know  their  sorrows ;  and  I  am  come  down  to 
deliver  them  out  of  the  hand  of  the  Egyptians  and  to  bring 
them  up  out  of  that  land  into  a  good  land,  and  large,  a  land 
flowing  with  milk  and  honey." 


FUTURE  OF  THE  COLORED  AMERICAN. 


HIS  CIVIL  EIGHTS  AND  EQUAL  PRIVILEGES— MEN 
TAL  AND  PHYSICAL  QUALITIES— ADAPTATION 
TO  SKILLED  LABOR. 


BALTIMORE,  October  31,  187*. 
PROFESSOR  JOHX  M.  L.ANGSTON  : 

DKARSIE:  At  the  regular  monthly  meeting  of  the  Progressive  Union  and 
Co-operative  Association,  held  in  September,  the  following  resolution  was 
adopted  : 

Resolved,  That  Professor  John  M.  Tungsten  be  specially  invited  to  lec 
ture  in  Baltimore,  in  behalf  of  this  Association,  on  Thanksgiving  evening, 
November  25, 1875,  upon  the  following  subject:  "  The  Duties  of  the  Hour  as 
they  Pertain  to  the  Colored  American  Citizen  ;''  and  that  he  be  furnished 
with  a  copy  of  the  declaration  of  objects  of  the  Association. 

Whereas,  it  is  ?tn  undeniable  fact  that  a  strong  and  powerfully  organized 
opposition  exists  in  this  country  to  the  colored  man's  full  and  complete  enjoy 
ment  of  all  the  rights  and  privileges  of  American  citizenship;  and 

Whereas,  we  bslieve  that  the  full  enjoyment  of  said  rights  is  to  be  obtained 
and  preserved  only  by  combination,  organization  and  perseverance  by  colored 
men;  therefore 

Resolved,  That  we  organize  for  the  fo  lowing  objects  under  the  name  of  the 
"  Colored  Men's  Progressive  and  Co  operative  Union:" 

1.  To  secure  equal  advantages  in  schools  of  all  grades,  from  the  primary 
school  to  the  university. 

2.  To  secure  a  full  and  complete  recognition  of  our  civilrights,  and  to  defend 
by  all  proper  means  any  abridgment  of  the  same. 

3.  To  use  all  justifiable  means  to  obtain  forour  children  admission  into  the 
workshops  of  our  country,  that  they  may  obtain  a  practical  knowledge  of  all 
mechanical  branches  of  business. 

4.  To  labor  for  the  moral  and  social  elevation  of  our  people. 

I  hope  you  will  discuss  at  length  the  right  of  the  colored  boys'  admission 
into  the  workshops  and  the  unjustiliableness  of  their  exclusion.  This  is  the 
second  letter  written  to  you  on  this  matter.  I  did  not  know  it  until  yesterday. 
I  saw  Mr.  Isaac  Myers  and  he  told  me  that  you  had  not  received  my  first 
letter.  If  you  have  suggestions  to  make  with  refer,  nee  to  the  lecture  I  will 
be  happy  to  receive  them.  Respectfully,  GEORGE  MYERS. 

MR.  PRESIDENT  :  I  am  not  insensible  of  the  distinguished 
honor  shown  me  in  the  invitation  which  brings  me  before  you 
on  this  occasion.  I  experience  and  express  to  you  and  the 


260  FEEEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 


"  Progressive  Union  and  Cc-operative  Association  "  the  live 
liest  feelings  of  gratitude.  As  I  value  the  honor  you  do  me,, 
through  your  invitation,  I  trust  I  in  some  proper  sense  ap 
preciate  the  dignity  and  importance  of  the  task  it  imposes, 
as  well  as  the  difficult  and  perplexing  character  of  its  wise 
and  conscientious  performance. 

I  despair  of  my  ability  to  perform  the  duty,  self-imposed 
by  the  acceptance  of  your  invitation,  in  such  manner  as  to 
interest  and  edify  you  and  promote  the  welfare  of  that  large 
class  of  our  population  described  in  the  phrase,  "colored 
American  citizen."  With  no  large  confidence  in  my  ability, 
and  with  no  purpose  to  cultivate  oratorical  art  or  display  in 
its  discussion,  I  bring  to  the  consideration  of  the  subject 
which  you  have  named  as  the  theme  of  n^  address  the  deep 
est  and  most  abiding  loyalty  to  those  on  whose  behalf  you 
have  organized  your  association.  And,  like  you,  I  would 
discover  not  only  the  excellent  qualities  of  character,  the 
commendable  facts  of  conduct,  and  the  more  important  and 
valuable  achievements  which  render  memorable  the  history 
of  the  colored  American,  but,  exploring  the  hiding  places  of 
his  weakness,  the  secret  haunts  of  his  insidious  foes,  the 
destroyers  of  his  physical,  industrial,  educational,  moral, 
social  and  civil  greatness,  I  would  induce  him  to  erect  and 
sustain  the  strongest  defenses  against  these  enemies. 

I  may,  I  ought,  to  congratulate  you  and  our  fellow-citizens, 
especially  our  colored  fellow-citizens,  upon  the  organization 
of  an  association  whose  purposes,  generous  and  philanthropic, 
are  so  clearly  and  tersely  set  forth  in  its  declaration  of  objects, 
in  the  following  words  : 

Whereas  it  is  an  undeniable  fact  that  a  strong  and  power 
fully  organized  opposition  exists  in  this  country  to  the  col 
ored  man's  full  and  complete  enjoyment  of  all  the  rights  and 
privileges  of  American  citizenship ;  and  whereas  we  believe 
that  the  full  enjoyment  of  said  rights  and  privileges  is  to  be 


FUTURE  OF  THE  COLORED  AMERICAN.       261 

obtained  and  preserved  only  by  combination,  organization 
and  perseverance  by  colored  men ;  therefore 

Resolved,  That  we  organize  for  the  following  objects  under 
the  name  of  the  "Colored  Men's  Progressive  and  Co-opera 
tive  Union :  " 

1.  To  secure  equal  advantages  in  schools  of  all  grades, 
from  the  primary  school  to  the  university. 

2.  To  secure  a  full  and  complete  recognition  of  our  civil 
rights  and  privileges,  and  to  defend  them  by  all  proper  means 
against   any  abridgment. 

3.  To  use  all  justifiable  means  to  obtain  for  our  children 
admission  into  the  workshops  of  our  country,  that  they  may 
gain  a  practical  knowledge  of  all  mechanical  branches  of 
business. 

4.  To  labor  for  the  moral   and  social  elevation  of  our 
people. 

Upon  the  organization  of  such  association  and  its  public 
inauguration  on  this  Thanksgiving  evening,under  auspices  so 
favorable  to  its  extended  usefulness,  I  do  indeed  congratu 
late  you.  Its  success  is  assured  in  the  disinterested  and 
earnest  devotion  of  its  projectors  and  members;  the  humane 
and  Christian  purposes  which  it  seeks  to  accomplish. 

According  to  a  resolution  unanimously  adopted  by  the 
association  I  have  been  invited  to  speak  on  this  subject : 
"  The  duties  of  the  hour  as  they  pertain  to  the  colored  Amer 
ican  citizen." 

I  infer  from  the  statement  of  my  subject  and  your  decla 
ration  of  objects  that  I  do  not  travel  beyond  legitimate  and 
proper  limits  if,  in  dwelling  upon  this  theme,  I  speak  of  cer 
tain  duties  which  we  are  bound  to  perform  in  our  own  behalf 
as  well  as  those  which  our  white  fellow-citizens  ought  to  ac 
knowledge  and  respect  as  binding  upon  them.  At  this  hour 
in  our  history  I  consider  the  former  of  not  less  importance 
and  their  performance  not  less  imperative  than  the  latter; 
and  as  I  progress,  if  we  do  not  agree  now,  I  feel  assured 
•that  we  will  ere  I  conclude. 


262  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

Since  our  emancipation  a  great  deal  has  been  said  with 
regard  to  our  "  dying  out."  Within  a  few  days  a  gentleman 
put  into  my  hands  a  Democratic  weekly  journal  containing 
what  he  called  a  well-considered  and  philosophical  article, 
in  which  I  found  these  words  : 

"  The  decree  of  emancipation  was  a  sentence  of  death  to 
the  Negro  race  upon  this  continent ;  none  the  less  inexorable 
because  it  is  self-executing.  If  to  that  sentence  there  is  any 
alternative,  it  is  barbarism — the  loss  of  all  that  three  cen 
turies  have  gained — and  a  lapse  into  the  old  and  normal 
character  and  condition.  This,  in  the  face  of  multiplied 
efforts  to  overcome  and  to  avert  it,  is  what  experience  show 
to  be  inevitable.  In  the  tropical  and  semi-tropical  countries 
of  the  Western  hemisphere  it  is  possible  that  the  Negro,  left 
to  his  own  guidance,  will  survive ;  but  his  survival  will  be 
upon  the  terms  of  his  own  native  instincts  and  propensities 
— the  permanent  elements  of  his  character.  In  the  temper 
ate  regions  he  will  go  out,  slowly  or  rapidly,  in  proportion 
as  the  climatic  influences  are  more  or  less  adverse  to  hi* 
constitution." 

Continuing,  the  writer  says  : 

"  Admitting  that  the  climate  is,  other  things  being  equal, 
such  as  to  allow  of  the  continuance  of  the  Negro  upon  this 
continent,  the  fact  of  his  survival  depends  upon  another 
condition — that  he  shall  become  industrial.  No  race  of  peo 
ple,  not  spontaneously  industrial,  can  maintain  a  permanent 
existence  in  a  temperate  climate.  Slavery  made  the  Negro 
involuntarily  industrial;  perhaps,  in  the  process  of  time,  it 
would  have  made  him  voluntarily  so.  In  order  to  elevate 
the  Negro,  and  fit  him  for  his  material  environment,  and  in 
sure  his  survival  in  it,  it  is  proposed  to  school  him;  give 
him  what  is  called  an  education.  The  effect  of  schooling 
upon  the  white  is  to  make  him,  as  an  individual,  non-  indus 
trial.  The  rationale  of  the  matter  is  something  like  this : 
A  race  of  men  in  order  to  survive  must  be  industrial.  The 
blacks,  as  a  race,  are  not  industrial ;  the  whites  are.  School 
ing  makes  the  individual  white  non-industrial.  Therefore, 
iu  order  to  make  the  individual  black  industrial,  he  must  be 


FUTURE  OF  THE  COLORED  AMERICAN.       26$ 

schooled.     And  this  is  no  more  feeble  than  the  rest  of  the 
edueatio-philanthropic  systems  of  ideas." 

Again,  he  says  : 

"  Death  or — so  far  as  the  relations  of  the  race  are  concerned 
— its  equivalent  was  the  doom  pronounced  upon  the  Africaa 
by  the  decree  of  emancipation.  The  Negro  in  the  United 
States  is  dying  out.  Whether  or  not  he  is  elevated  is,  there 
fore,  either  to  himself  or  the  white,  matter  of  small,  and,  at 
the  most,  temporary  concernment.  In  the  race  between 
education  and  extinction  it  matters  little  which  comes  out 
ahead  when  the  latter  is  inevitable.  But,  admitting  the  pos 
sibility,  under  favorable  circumstances,  of  educating  the  Afri 
can  inio  the  equivalent  of  a  European,  there  is  one  condition  of 
race  advancement  which  is  absolute,  and  with  which  the  Negro 
cannot  comply.  A  race  of  people  which,  through  the  cir 
cumstances  of  their  environment,  or  through  defects  in  their 
own  constitution  or  disposition,  or  through  both  of  these  com 
bined,  do  not  keep  good  their  own  numbers,  cannot  progress  ; 
can  only  deteriorate.  The  stamina  or  the  character  or  the 
constancy  essential  to  the  one  is  an  inflexible  condition  to  the 
other.  Multiplication  and  advancement,  and  dimunition  and 
retrogradation  are  things  co-ordinate  and  inseparable.  The 
history  of  the  world  does  not  furnish  an  example  of  a  people 
who  were  fallen  off  numerically  and  advancing  spiritually  at 
one  and  the  same  time.  Such  are  the  relations  between  the 
physical  and  the  psychical  in  humanity  that  the  thing  is  im 
possible.  Stamina  and  robustitude  in  the  one  is  stamina  and 
robustitude  in  the  other,  and  there  is  no  instance  in  which  a 
diminution  or  reproductive  capacity  and  consequent  diminu 
tion  in  numbers  has  not  been  found  associated  with  reduced 
intellectual  audacity  and  moral  constancy.  This  law  is  so 
absolute  that  each  ratio  of  increase  and  diminution  has  its 
corresponding  mode  and  degree  of  intellectual  and  moral 
manifestations." 

If  we  carefully  and  critically  examine  the  words  I  quote 
we  shall  find  that  the  writer  makes  these  three  assertions : 

1,  That  the  decree  of  emancipation  is  a  sentence  of  death, 
to  the  Negro  race. 


264  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

2.  That  in  the  temperate  regions  the  Negro  will  go  out 
slowly  or  rapidly  in  proportion  as  the  climatic  influences  are 
more  or  less  adverse  to  his  constitution. 

3.  That  no  race  of  people  not  spontaneously  industrious 
•can  maintain  a  permanent  existence  in  a  temperate  climate. 
The  Negro  is  not  spontaneously  industrious.    Education  will 
not  make  him  such.     Therefore  the  Negro  in   the  United 
States  is  dying  out. 

He  does  not  quite  believe  his  first  assertion  himself;  for 
after  speaking  of  the  sentence  of  death  as  "  none  the  less 
inexorable  because  it  is  self- executing,"  he  declares  that  if 
"  there  is  any  alternative  " — insinuating  that  there  may  be 
such — it  is  "  barbarism."  Neither  logic  nor  the  presentation 
of  facts  in  support  of  his  conclusions  are  offered  ;  and  that, 
too,  when  the  hi  story  of  the  world,  as  regards  all  oppressed 
and  outcast  races,  in  all  regions  and  all  periods,  all  complex 
ions  and  nationalities,  shows  that  emancipation,  freedom,  with 
its  blessings,  its  infusion  of  manly  aspiration  and  ennobling 
purposes,  has  always  proved  the  best,  the  most  valuable  and 
dearly  prized  of  human  benefits;  never  a  curse,  always  a 
blessing ;  never  death,  always  life,  precious  indeed.- 

There  is  nothing  in  his  second  assertion  to  assist  him.  For 
his  statement  finds  an  irresistible  and  perpetual  answer  in  our 
daily  observation  of  the  colored  man  living  in  our  climate 
to  a  like  age,  in  many  cases  to  a  greater,  with  his  white  fel 
low-countrymen.  And  this  after  an  enforced  service  of  cent 
uries  in  slavery;  fed  and  clothed  in  a  manner  and  in  the  use 
of  articles  the  effect  of  which  upon  the  body  could  not  have 
been  specially  life-giving. 

Nor  is  his  third  assertion  particularly  fortunate.  I  know 
of  no  "spontaneously  industrial  race."  I  do  know  that, 
according  to  my  observation,  there  is  about  as  much  spon- 
taniety  in  the  industry  of  the  Negro  as  in  that  of  the  white 


FUTURE  OF  THE  COLORED  AMERICAN.      265 

man.  It  seems  to  me  that  both  races  work  as  they  must,  they 
following  the  law  written  in  our  nature  by  our  Creator,  from 
which  no  race  may  plead  freedom,  but  in  obedience  to  which 
ev-ery  race  reaches  its  highest  industrial  eminence.  It  is  the 
sense  of  want  that  leads  to  industrial  endeavor.  It  is  this 
sense,  the  love  of  gain,  the  laudable  ambition  to  promote  the 
special  good  of  those  who  are  nearly  related  to  us,  or  the  gen 
eral  good  of  our  race,  countrymen,  or  mankind,  or  that  selfish 
ambition  which  seeks  to  perpetuate  one's  own  name  and  deeds 
that  prompt,  sustain,  and  make  valuable  industrial  enter 
prise.  Want  makes  us  all  work.  As  we  rise  above  want, 
lose  our  interest  in  the  welfare  of  mankind,  and  cease  to 
value  endeavor  in  that  behalf,  or  the  selfish  purpose  sur 
renders  its  control  of  our  minds,  any  of  us,  all  of  us,  show 
ourselves  anything  other  than  "spontaneously  industrial." 
Taste  we  may  cultivatejjve  may  evenjind  ourselves  endowed 
by  nature  with  feelings  jind  inclinations  leading"us"  in~  pecu 
liar  ways  of  industry ;  then  habits  of  industry,  like  other 
habits,  may  so  fasten  themselves  upon  us  that  we  seem  to  long 
for  work  as  the  drunkard  does  for  drink  or  the  libertine  for 
lustful  gratification.  All  that  can  be  said  of  any  other  of 
the  human  races  in^this  regard  can  be  said  with  equal  truth 
and  force  of  the  Negro.  And  so  I  can  but  believe  the  writer, 
whose  statements  I  combat,  must  really  admit,  since  he  uses 
this  rather  remarkable  language  :  u  Slavery  made  the  Negro 
involuntarily  industrious,  perhaps  in  process  of  time  it  would 
have  made  him  voluntarily  so."  It  cannot  be  that  slavery 
could  have  added  to  the  powers  or  elements  of  our  souls. 
This  cannot  be  claimed. 

All,  surely,  that  can  be  meant  is  that   enforced  service 

might  have  produced  the  result  indicated.     This  result  would 

certainly  be  more  easily  attained  under  the  influence  of  free 

and  intelligent  labor,  even  in  the  case  of  the  Negro.    I  use 

Q 


266  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

the  word  intelligent.  I  mean  thus  to  deny  the  absurd  sen- 
timent  that  "schooling  makes  the  individual  white  non-in 
dustrial."  A  false  education  may  lead  a  white  man,  as  it 
may  a  colored  one,  to  shun  and  despise  labor.  But  a  sound 
education,  one  which  imparts  that  knowledge  of  life  and  the 
dignity  of  labor,  as  a  means  of  happiness  and  civilization, 
essential  to  all  real  wisdom,  begets  a  different,  a  nobler  feel 
ing  and  determination,  and,  therefore,  where  education  has 
been  cultivated  labor  has  been  dignified  and  industrial 
enterprises  of  private  and  public  character  have  been 
inaugurated  and  perfected.  Otherwise  education  and  labor 
would  be  inimical,  and  we  should  find  the  grandest  in 
dustrial  achievements  among  the  most  illiterate  and  intel 
lectually  degraded.  No  one  other  than  a  person  who  has  the 
vulgar  and  mistaken  conception  of  labor  and  laborers,  the 
equally  false  and  pernicious  opinion  of  the  master  class, 
engendered  and  fostered  by  slavery,  would  advance  and 
pretend  to  support  by  positive  asseveration  such  unjust  and 
unfounded  declarations. 

Underlying  the  statements  of  the  writer  upon  whose  words 
I  dwell  are  these  two  glaring  absurdities.  First,  that  in  pro 
portion  as  we  educate  a  people  they  become  non-industrial, 
and  being  non-industrial,  die.  If  this  be  true,  then  deaths 
among  the  white  people  of  our  country  should  be  largely  in 
excess  even  of  a  like  number  of  Negroes,  since  the  whites 
are  much  more'  generally  educated,  and  the  number  of  idle 
and  worthless  'persons  among  the  whites  should  greatly 
exceed  the  number  of  the  same  class  among  the  blacks. 
Can  this  writer  make  such  admissions  ? 

In  the  second  place,  it  may  be  true  that  education  takes 
many  persons  from  the  merely  manual  occupations  of  life 
to  literary,  artistic,  scientific  and  professional ;  but  that  the 
interests  of  human  society  may  be  conserved  these  latter 


FUTURE  OF  THE  COLO E ED  AMERICAN.      267 

callings  must  be  cultivated.  And  fortunately  for  the  poor 
white,  even  the  poor  black  boy,  in  our  country  and  under 
our  law,  no  aristocratic  class  may  fix  limits  to  the  callings  to 
which  malice  or  cultivated  taste,  interest  or  consideration  of 
humanit}?1,  patriotism  or  religion  lead  us. 

I  do  not  feel  any  alarm,  in  view  of  these  and  such  state 
ments,  as  to  our  dying  out.  There  are,  however,  certain  facts 
connected  with  our  physical  condition  which  we  as  wise  men 
will  do  well  to  consider.  As  showing  what  I  mean,  and  as 
showing  a  condition  of  things  which  must  be  improved,  I 
beg  to  submit  the  following  facts  and  figures  as  respects  our 
death  rate  in  the  cities  of  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  Rich 
mond,  and  the  District  of  Columbia. 

The  entire  population  of  Philadelphia  is  800,000— the 
white  775,000,  the  colored  25,000.  The  total  number  of 
deaths  for  twelve  months  ending  September  30,1875,  is  17,702 
— 16,714  white,  and  988  colored  persons.  Percentage  of 
deaths,  2.15  of  white  and  2.45  of  colored  persons.  Deaths 
per  1,000  inhabitants,  21.57  white  and  24.50  colored  persons. 
Here  is  a  showing  greatly  against  us. 

The  entire  population  of  Baltimore  is  350,000 — the  white 
being  305,000  and  the  colored  45,000.  The  total  number  of 
deaths  for  the  twelve  months  ending  September  30,  1875,  is 
7f585 — 6,036  white  and  1,549  colored  persons.  Percentage 
of  deaths,  1.98  white  and  3.44  colored  persons.  Deaths  per 
1,000  inhabitants,  19.80  white  and  35.40  colored  persons. 
Here,  again,  is  a  showing  against  us. 

The  entire  population  of  Richmond  is  72,5000— the  white 
41,400  and  the  colored  31,100.  The  total  number  of  deaths  for 
twelve  months  ending  September  30,1875,is  1,632—701  white 
and  931  colored  persons.  Percentage  of  deaths,  1.69  white 
and  2.99  colored  persons.  Deaths  per  1,000  inhabitants, 
16.93  white  and  29.94  colored  persons.  And  here  is  a  show 
ing  adverse  to  us. 


268  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

The  population  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  white  and  col 
ored,  is  160,000 — 115,000  white  and  45,000  colored  persons. 
The  total  number  of  deaths  for  twelve  months  ending  Sep 
tember  30,  1875,  is  4,352—2,210  white  and  2,142  colored 
persons.  Percentage  of  deaths,  192  white  and  4.76  colored 
persons.  Deaths  per  1,000  inhabitants,  19.20  white  and 
47.60  colored  persons.  Still  the  showing  is  against  us. 

If  we  extend  our  examination  we  shall  find  that  the  num 
ber  of  births  reported  for  the  time  named,  white  and  colored* 
in  the  District  of  Columbia,  is,  of  the  first  class,  2,518,  and 
of  the  second,  1,397;  total,  3,915.  The  percentage  of  births 
is,  of  the  white  2.19,  of  the  colored  3.10.  Births  per  1,000 
inhabitants  are,  white  21.89,  and  colored  31.04.  There  is 
an  increase  of  white  births  over  deaths  per  1,000  inhabitants 
of  2.69 ;  but  a  decrease  of  colored  births  over  deaths  per 
1,000  inhabitants  of  16.56.  As  we  extend  our  examination 
facts  and  figures  seem  to  stand  against  us. 

As  confirmatory  of  the  statements  made  in  reference  to 
the  District  of  Columbia,  and  as  indicating  the  cause  of  our 
very  great  death  rate,  and  the  remedy  therefor,  in  the  fewest 
possible  words,  I  offer  the  following  letter  from  Dr.  D.  W. 
Bliss,  one  of  the  most  skillful  physicians,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  one  of  the  most  earnest  and  laborious  sanitarians  of 
our  country,  a  friend  of  our  race  of  many  years'  standing, 
and  of  devotion  and  tried  character.  He  is  at  present  a 
member  of  the  board  of  health  of  the  District  of  Columbia, 
and  registrar  of  vital  statistics  of  the  same  board.  His  let 
ter,  addressed  to  me,  reads  as  follows  : 

WASHINGTON,  November  16,  1875. 
PROF.  JOHN  M.  LANGSTON,  Washington,  D.  C.  : 

SIR  :  In  reply  to  your  letter  of  the  13th  instant,  request 
ing  certain  information  from  the  records  of  this  office,  I  have 
the  honor  to  submit  the  following,  viz  : 

The  colored  population  of  the  District  of  Columbia  is 
estimated  at  45,000. 


FUTURE  OF  THE  COLORED  AMERICAN.      269 

The  number  of  colored  births  reported  during  the  twelve 
months  ending  September  30,  1875,  was  1,397,  of  which 
number  733  were  males  and  664  were  females. 

The  number  of  deaths  of  the  same  class  during  the  same 
period  was  2,142 — 2,141  native  and  1  foreign.  Of  the 
whole  number  1,029  were  males  and  1,113  were  females. 

The  mortality  of  the  same  class  was  at  the  rate  of  47.60 
per  1,000  per  annum,  while  the  mortality  of  the  white  popula 
tion  was  at  the  rate  of  19.21  per  1,000  per  annum,  showing 
that  the  death  rate  of  the  colored  population  lacks  but 
twenty-three  one-thousandths  of  one  per  cent,  of  being  one 
and  one  half  times  greater  than  the  mortality  of  the  white; 
in  other  words,  the  deaths  were  at  the  rate  of  247  colored 
to  100  white. 

In  reply  to  your  interrogatory,  as  to  the  "  diseases  with 
which  this  class  seems  specially  afflicted,"  I  respectfully 
refer  you  to  the  accompanying  table,  which  contains  thirty- 
one  of  the  most  prominent  of  a  total  of  212  causes  of  death, 
affecting  this  class  for  the  same  period. 

The  number  of  marriages  reported  of  this  class  for  the 
same  time  was  321. 

The  number  of  illegitimate  colored  births  reported  dur 
ing  the  same  period  was  250,  or  18.61  percent,  of  the  entire 
colored  births  reported. 

The  number  of  colored  still-births  reported  for  the  same 
period  was  223,  of  which  number  123  were  males  and  100 
females. 

In  reply  to  the  question  asking  my  opinion  as  to  the 
cause  of  the  large  death  rate  of  the  colored  population  in 
this  District,  I  would  respectfully  refer  you  to  my  opinion 
on  this  subject,  expressed  in  my  annual  reports  to  the  board 
of  hsalth  for  1873  and  1874.  It  is  not  surprising  that  the 
mortality  of  the  colored  population  is  so  very  great,  if  we 
consider  the  great  influx  of  this  class  into  the  District  dur 
ing  and  since  the  late  war,  bringing  with  them  the  filthy  and 
careless  habits  of  the  plantation,  occupying,  from  necessity, 
unsuitable  habitations,  located  in  the  alleys,  in  the  lowest 
and  most  unhealthy  portions  of  the  city,  subjected  to  all  the 
unwholesome  influences  of  overcrowding  and  poverty,  com 
bined  with  absolute  ignorance  of  the  laws  of  health. 

These,  the  most  patent  causes  affecting  the  sanitary  con- 


270 


FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 


dition  of  this  class  of  inhabitants  of  the  District,  operate  in 
a  very  great  degree  to  produce  the  result  shown  in  our  sta 
tistical  tables. 

^;,The  data  for  the  present  year  will  afford  me  additional 
evidence  as  to  the  cause  of  the  great  mortality  of  this  class, 
which  I  shall  present  to  the  board  of  health  in  my  next 
annual  report,  now  in  course  of  preparation. 

Very  respectfully,  D.  W.  BLISS,  M.  D., 

Registrar  Vital  Statistics. 

Table  showing  thirty-one  of  the  most  prominent,  of  a  total  of  two  hundred 
u  and  twelve  causes  of  deaths,  of  the  cclored   population  of  the  District  of 
Columbia  during  the  year  ending  September  30,  1875. 


Diseases. 

Number  of 
deaths.  # 

Colored. 

White. 

o 
h 

Atelectasis  pulmonum  .  ...                      

33 

13 

6 

19 

Anasarc*,  

41 

16 

10 

26 

18 

7 

1 

8 

Bronchitis  

133 

62 

24 

76 

Cholera  infantnm                                      

296 

116 

154 

270 

Congenital  debility  

61 

24 

20 

44 

Congestion  of  lungs      .                           

71 

28 

40 

68 

303 

119 

78 

197 

Dentition  .      .            .... 

33 

13 

9 

22 

Diarrhoea  

199 

78 

62 

130 

Enteritis  ..           ... 

33 

13 

19 

32 

Eutero-colitis  

61 

24 

14 

38 

Erysipelas    .... 

20 

8 

15 

23 

100 

39 

61 

100 

Fever,  typho  malaria:                                      . 

20 

s 

61 

100 

Gastritis  

28 

11 

18 

29 

Gastroenteritis  
Hydrocephalus  and  tubercular  meningitis  

33 

77 

15 
30 

11 
36 

26 
66 

Inanition  

110 

43 

48 

91 

Meningitis  

Nephria,  (Bright'*  disease)  

89 
28 

35 
11 

47 
14 

82 
26 

Paralysis  

49 

19 

19 

38 

Pericarditis  , 

83 

15 

16 

31 

'95 

272 

307 

579 

Pneumonia  

621 

243 

187 

440 

Premature  birth  

84 

33 

44 

77 

Rheumati  m  

13 

5 

5 

10 

Tabes  mesenterica  and  morasmus       .     .          

294 

155 

66 

171 

Trismus  nascentium 

153 

60 

17 

77 

Valvular  disease  of  the  heart  

56 

22 

45 

67 

Whooping  cough  

204 

79 

45 

124 

1  566 

1,434 

3,000 

*The  white  population  is  2.5-9  more  thrm  the  colored.  If  the  colored  pop 
ulation  was  the  same  in  numbers  as  the  white  the  figures  in  this  column 
would  indicate  the  number  of  deaths  from  each  cause. 


FUTURE  OF  THE  COLORED  AMERICAN.      271 

On  examining  the  table  referred  to  by  Dr.  Bliss,  and 
which  is  presented  with  his  letter,  it  will  be  found  that  the 
diseases  with  which  the  colored  residents  of  the  District  of 
Columbia  have  chiefly  died  are  zymotic  and  preventable,  or 
such  as,  though  constitutional,  are  no  more  peculiar  to  per 
sons  of  the  African  race  than  to  others  in  similar  circum 
stances  and  of  similar  habits. 

Dr.  Bliss  does  not  so  state  in  his  letter,  but  it  is  a  fact 
that  the  records  of  his  office  will  show  that  a  large  propor 
tion  of  the  deaths  of  colored  persons  is  of  children  dying 
under  five  years  of  age.  This  fact,  showing  that  too  large 
a  number  of  our  babes  and  infants  are  unable  to  survive  the 
toying  circumstances  into  which  they  are  so  often  born,  is 
significant.  Nor  does  the  Dcctor  state  that  the  number  of 
births  given  is  simply  those  that  are  reported,  while  we  very 
well  know  that  many  children  are  born  in  the  District  among 
persons  of  all  classes,  which  are  not  reported,  as  required 
by  law.  It  is,  perhaps,  true  that  thirty  per  cent,  of  the 
births  in  the  District  are  not  reported ;  the  percentage  of 
births  not  reported  of  the  colored  people  being  probably 
even  larger  than  those  of  the  whites. 

I  have  not  been  able  to  get  any  reliable  information  with 
regard  to  births  of  either  white  or  colored  people  in  the  cities 
named.  However,  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  were  we  able  to 
secure  the  facts,  the  result  would  not  materially  vary  the 
condition  of  things,  as  shown  in  the  city  of  Washington  and 
the  District  of  Columbia. 

The  facts  and  figures  adduced  admonish  us  that  we  should 
at  once  enter  upon  the  work  of  improving  our  physical  con 
dition. 

The  Negro,  naturally  tenacious  of  life,  even  under  the 
oppressive  and  life-exhausting  conditions  of  slavery,  over- 
worked,  ill-fed  and  poorly  sheltered,  lived,  multiplied  his 


272  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

numbers  andjlargely^by "natural  increase  became  numerically 
a"great  people  in  this  land. 

Like  other][classes  of  the  human  family,  however,  lie  can 
not  live  and  multiply  his  numbers  in  conditions  where  pure 
air  and  the  essentials  of  sound  bodily  health  are  denied  him. 
In  ill-constructed,  cold,  leaky,  damp,  filthy  and  foul  shanties 
and  structures,  overcrowded  and  poorly  and  insufficiently 
ventilated,  located  in  alleys,  narrow  and  unimproved  streets, 
and  back  places  where  noisome  odors  and  noxious  gases, 
generated  in  filth  of  every  conceivable  name  and  kind,  death- 
breeding,  poison  and  destroy,  he  must  die.  The  number^of 
our  people  finding  their  homes  in  such  places,  in  such  mis 
erable  substitutes  for  dwellings  is  [altogether  too;large,  and 
our  mortality  must  grow  yet  more  alarming  if  we  continue 
in  them.  Where  pure  air,  the  life  indeed  of  the  body,  is 
denied  admission ;  where  there  exists  a  condition  of  things 
which  constitutes  a  perpetual  injunction  against  its  presence, 
the  Negro  cannot  live — no  human  being  can  live.  All  sicken 
and  die,  for  we  violate  the  law  of  our  being  which  God  him 
self  has  made,  whose  penalty  is  death. 

As  bearing  upon  the  general  subject  already  so  fully  con 
sidered,  and  as  indicating  our  future  situation  as  to  health 
and  life,  should  we  improve  our  physical  condition,  I  intro 
duce  an  extract  from  a  letter  written  by  Dr.  Verdi,  a  member 
of  the  board  of  health  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  a  gen 
tleman  occupying  eminent  place  in  the  medical  profession 
and  as  a  sanitarian,  in  answer  to  a  question  propounded  by 
me  with  regard  to  the  mortality  of  our  race.  The  question 
was  :  "  Is  the  cause  of  the  great  mortality  of  the  colored  peo 
ple  of  our  country,  as  indicated  by  statistics  within  your 
knowledge,  in  your  opinion  a  permanent  one  ?"  To  this  he 
says: 

"  J  answer,  temporary ;  probably  mainly  confined  to  the 


FUTURE  OF  THE  COLORED  AMERICAN.  1 273 

present  and  the  next  generation.  In  his  contest  with  the 
white — for  his  position  is  a  contest — he  must  learn  that  the 
strongest  wins,  and  then  learn  how  to  make  himself  strong. 
Legislation  cannot  do  it.  He  must  learn  to  improve  his  own 
condition,  by  keeping  his  dwelling  free  from  the  filth  that 
poisons  its  atmosphere ;  he  must  know  that  dry  and  well- 
ventilated  houses  are  conducive  to  health;  he  must  learn 
that  healthy  food  preserves  his  life  and  makes  his  children 
strong ;  he  must  learn  that  constant  labor  only  will  give  him 
the  means  to  provide  healthy  food ;  he  must  learn  economy, 
and  save  when  he  is  well  and  at  work,  so  as  not  to  be  in  want 
when  sick  or  without  employment;  he  must  learn  that  pork, 
although  cheap  as  an  article  of  diet,  will  only  perpetuate  his- 
liability  to  disease,  which  he  will  transmit  to  his  child.  All 
this  he  will  learn  in  his  contest  with  other  races ;  hence,  the 
mortality  of  the  present  generation  will  lessen  in  the  next, 
and  so  on  until  he  can  stand  abreast  of  the  white  contending 
for  supremacy  in  industry,  art  and  labor.  Many  will  die  in 
this  period  of  probation,  but  those  that  are  left  will  be  stal 
wart  men,  and  statistics  will  not  threaten  him  with  the 
extinction  of  his  race." 

I  have  considered  the  matter  of  our  physical  condition, 
adducing  and  commenting  upon  the  facts  and  figures  pre 
sented,  not  for  the  sake  of  combatting  what  I  conceive  to 
be  false  theories  with  regard  to  our  mortality,  not  for  the 
purpose  of  exciting  undue  alarm  or  unnecessary  feeling  of 
any  kind  as  to  this  subject,  but  for  the  purpose  of  inducing,, 
if  possible,  as  far  as  may  be  practicable,  such  improvement 
as  may  insure  sound  health  and  long  life  to  the  colored  people 
of  our  country.  The  improvement  which  I  urge  is  one  which 
each  family  must  make  for  itself;  and  the  obligation  to- 
make  it  is  imperative  and  absolute.  It  is  a  dictate  of  pa 
ternal  as  well  as  patriotic  duty;  and  to  urge  its  religious 
observance  is  justified  by  considerations  of  the  highest  good 
of  all  concerned.  Our  first  duty,  towering  above  all  others 
in  importance,  whose  performance  is  indispensable  to  our 


274  FEEEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

permanent  welfare,  is  the  one  of  which  I  speak.  It  may  be 
well  to  care  for  our  dead,  to  commit  their  remains  "decently 
and  in  order,"  to  the  earth;  it  is  far  more  important  that  we 
<care  for  our  living,  making  the  largest  sacrifice,  foregoing  all 
indulgence  of  appetite  and  mere  pleasurable  gratifications, 
husbanding  every  resource,  that  we  may  be  able  to  improve 
our  residence,  making  our  homes,  in  all  the  essentials  con 
ducive  to  sound  bodily  condition,  in  structure  and  cleanli 
ness,  models. 

As  to  our  industrial  condition.  It  is  no  part  of  my  purpose 
to  say  that  we  do  not  work,  and  work  hard  and  perseveringly. 
It  is  altogether  true  that  we,  as  a  class,  are  industrious  and 
laborious.  The  well-worked  fields  of  the  South,  luxuriant 
and  beautiful  with  that  rich  plant  once  called  king,  attest 
our  devotion  in  slavery  or  freedom  to  work.  Driven  as  beasts 
of  burden  in  our  former  condition  of  servitude,  we  never 
rebelled  against  labor.  Emancipated  and  sent  empty-handed 
to  seek  our  living  or  die,  we  have  demonstrated  our  accept 
ance  of  the  ancient  law,  that  in  the  sweat  of  man's  brow 
shall  he  gain  his  bread.  However  otherwise  we  are  vulner 
able  to  charges  derogatory  and  degrading,  no  one  can,  with 
any  degree  of  justice,  pronounce  us  as  a  class  idle.  Indi 
viduals  of  our  number  are  idle;  individuals  of  all  classes 
are ;  but,  as  a  class,  we  compare  favorably  with  the  very  best 
as  to  habits  of  industry. 

As  the  laboring  class,  however,  of  a  large  and  important 
section  of  our  country,  our  position  is  subordinate  and  me 
nial.  Not  one  word  is  to  be  said  against  any  necessa^  and 
honorable  labor.  In  no  sentiment  of  opposition  thereto  could 
I  expect  you  to  agree  with  me  or  any  other.  But  I  have  no 
such  word  of  opposition  to  utter.  Nor  do  I  advise  you  to 
abandon  those  humbler  walks  of  industry,  along  which  you 
feave,  for  so  many  years,  by  diligence  and  perseverance,  hon- 


FUTURE  OF  THE  COLOEED  AMERICAN.      275 

esty  and  obedience,  gathered  the  means  of  an  honorable  and 
happy,  though  humble,  living. 

What  I  advise  is  that  we  grow  our  children,  especially  our 
sons,  to  those  occupations — mechanical,  artistic  and  other — 
whose  cultivation  not  only  brings  wealth  and  independence, 
but  desirable  and  influential  social  position.  It  is  the  duty 
of  the  father,  as  far  as  practicable,  to  lift  his  son  from  the 
lowly  condition  which  he  occupies.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  son 
to  improve  upon  that  condition  as  far  as  possible.  With 
the  father  acting  under  a  due  sense  of  his  obligation,  and 
the  son  appreciating  his  duty  and  the  purpose  of  his  parents, 
much  can  be  done  to  accomplish  the  result  proposed,  even 
where  workshops  are  closed  against  us  and  our  children  de 
nied  a  knowledge  of  those  trades  and  callings  without  which 
industrial  enterprises  of  every  character  must  fail. 

Considerations  of  justice  and  patriotism,  one  would  feel, 
must  induce  the  mechanics  of  the  country,  upon  reflection, 
to  open  their  shops  to  our  sons.  If,  however,  they  do  not 
relent,  but  continue  to  deny  to  them  the  knowledge  and  skill 
desired,  let  us  combine  to  sustain  those  white  workmen,  and 
establish  and  support  such  colored  ones,  as  will  give  our 
children  the  instruction  and  labor  which  they  need. 

If  we  cannot,  as  individuals,  accomplish  this  object,  let 
us  organize  ourselves  into  associations  and  aggregate  our 
small  sums  of  surplus  funds  to  sustain  those  workmen  who 
will  deal  justly  with  our  sons. 

If  we  cannot  find  situations  for  them  in  the  cities,  towns 
or  country  places  where  we  live,  let  us  send  them  to  distant 
places,  where  men  are  found  who  will  instruct  them.  Then, 
when  their  apprenticeship  has  been  served,  have  them  return 
to  establish  and  conduct  business  among  those  who  deny 
them  opportunity  to  learn  and  labor. 
Were  you  to  read  the  history  of  the  outcast  races  of  Spain 


276  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

and  France  you  would,  in  the  course  of  your  reading,  find  a 
peculiar  and  despised  class,  called  the  Cagots.  Why  they 
were  despised  no  man  knows,  any  more  than  he  does  whence 
they  came  or  how  or  where  they  get  their  name.  As  a  class 
possessing  a  lobeless  ear  and  afflicted  with  goitre,  aggravated 
by  burden-bearing,  they  were  hated  and  maltreated  without 
the  least  humanity  or  mercy  shown  them — as  if  they  had- 
been  cursed  by  God  and  branded  as  the  objects  of  His  hot 
displeasure. 

This  statement  you  will  believe  when  you  are  told  that 
if  they  entered  a  church  they  did  so  by  a  special  door,  being 
compelled  to  occupy  a  special  part  of  the  church  by  them 
selves.  The  priest  refused  them  confession,  and  they  were 
compelled  to  take  holy  water  from  a  separate  and  special 
vessel.  The  consolations  and  benefits  of  religion  were  prac 
tically  denied  them.  They  were  refused  civil  rights  and 
political  privileges.  When  witnesses  were  needed  the  testi 
mony  of  several  of  their  own  class  was  required  to  contra 
dict  that  of  a  single  witness  of  ordinary  character.  They 
were  compelled  to  wear  shoes  lest  the  touch  of  their  naked 
feet  soil  the  pathways.  That  they  might  the  more  readily 
be  recognized  the}'  were  compelled  to  wear,  attached  to  their 
clothing,  a  piece  of  red  cloth,  cut  after  the  pattern  of  the 
goose  or  duck's  foot.  All  social  intercourse  was  denied 
them,  and  they  were  compelled  to  live  in  the  outskirts  of 
the  towns  and  cities  of  Spain  and  France,  an  outcast  race. 
When  it  is  added  that  they  were  for  many  centuries  slaves, 
ignorant  and  degraded,  forbidden  intermarriage  with  any 
other  than  their  own  class,  and  having  born  to  them  children 
condemned  like  themselves  to  slavery  and  misery,  you  will 
exclaim,  "How  strikingly  their  condition  resembles  our 
own  !  "  And  yet  the  Cagot  was  a  mechanic.  He  was  per 
mitted,  in  spite  of  the  inveterate  prejudice  which  existed 


FUTUEE  OF  THE  COLORED  AMERICAN.      277 

against  him,  to  become  a  sawyer  and  a  carpenter.  His  tools 
were  esteemed  by  him  his  most  valuable  property,  and  they 
were  the  only  weapons  which  he  was  allowed  to  possess. 

When  we  were  slaves  the  selfish  interest  of  our  owners 
in  many  cases  led  them  to  put  us  to  trades  of  various  kinds. 
Many  free  colored  persons,  even  in  slave  States,  also  fol 
lowed  different  kinds  of  mechanical  occupations.  We  are 
not,  •  therefore,  wholly  without  good  workmen,  though  the 
number  be  small — too  small  in  all  parts  of  our  country 
where  colored  men  reside.  These  workmen,  denied  oppor 
tunity  to  labor  in  the  shops  generally,  and  with  white  me 
chanics  upon  the  larger  and  finer  edifices  and  structures, 
public  and  private,  have  steadily  pursued  the  humbler  and 
less  profitable  walks  of  their  calling,  displaying  frequently 
taste,  skill  and  workmanship  of  the  best  order.  Such  per 
sons  deserve  special  commendation.  Whenever  it  is  prac 
ticable  they  should  be  given  our  patronage,  for  their  course 
is  at  once  honorable  to  them  and  creditable  to  us. 

In  many  places,  and  among  many  of  our  first-class  white 
mechanics,  the  prejudice  which  has  heretofore  existed 
against  us  is  giving  place  to  a  better  and  more  humane  feel 
ing.  Colored  mechanics  in  such  localities,  and  as  engaged 
by  this  class  of  white  employers,  are  steadily  advancing  to 
the  most  desirable  and  renumerative  positions  in  their  call 
ings.  This  fact  is  prophetic  of  large  and  permanent  good 

to  us. 

Among  our  sons  many  are  found  who  desire  to  leave 
menial  occupations,  to  learn  and  pursue  mechanical  and  com 
mercial  callings.  Let  us  foster,  encourage  and  sustain  this 
feeling  till  it  becomes  a  settled  purpose,  as  discovered  in 
efforts  to  master  the  occupation  to  which  their  inclinations 
lead  them.  In  pursuing  such  course  we  will  resist  and  over 
come,  as  we  ought,  the  tendency  connected  with  our  former 


278  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

and  our  present  condition,  toward  a  permanent  state  of 
slavish  dependence,  which  is  menial  and  degrading.  Against 
labor,  even  the  humblest,  I  repeat,  I  do  not  say  a  single 
word.  For  in  my  thoughts,  when  man  shall  have  reached 
his  best  earthly  estate,  labor  and  learning  stand  perpetually 
conjoined,  conspiring  to  elevate  his  thoughts,  purify  and 
ennoble  his  feelings,  sustain  his  aspirations,  direct  and  sup 
port  his  purposes,  softening  his  humanity,  conserving  his 
highest  interest,  promoting  his  most  lasting  good. 

We  often  feel,  very  erroneously,  however,  that  through 
what  are  termed  the  learned  professions,  the  legal,  the  med 
ical  and  theological,  alone  do  we,  or  can  we,  rise  to  dis 
tinction.  In  obscure  and  humble  industrial  pursuits  not 
unfrequently  do  the  youthful,  aspiring  subjects  of  future 
greatness  catch  that  spirit  which  sustains  and  bears  them 
forward  in  those  more  conspicuous  and  influential  paths 
of  reform,  legislation  and  politics. 

To-day  we  mourn  the  loss  of  a  Senator  and  statesman, 
whose  name,  associated  in  our  memories  with  those  of  Gid- 
dings,  Lincoln,  Hale,  Stevens,  Lovejoy,  Birney,  Chase,  Henry 
Winter  Davis,  Gerrit  Smith,  and  Charles  Sumner,  lives  in 
immortal  freshness  and  beauty,  lovely  and  precious,  through 
all  the  ages  to  come.  We  pause  to  drop  a  tear  of  the  pro- 
foundest  sorrow  over  the  death  of  Henry  Wilson.  In  all  his 
relations  in  life,  domestic,  social,  and  official,  he  did  not — 
his  friends  could— forget  that  he  rose  from  humble,  dignified 
labor  to  high  public  station.  Let  no  man  despise  the  early, 
lowly  condition  of  real  greatness ! 

Dr.  Edward  Young,  in  his  excellent  special  report  on 
"Labor  in  Europe  and  America,"  just  published,  in  dwelling 
upon  the  condition  of  the  feudal  period  in  England,  says : 

"  In  the  former  period  two-thirds  of  the  people  are  said  to 
have  been  either  slaves,  or  in  a  state  of  bondage  approaching 


FUTURE  OF  THE  COLORED  AMERICAN.      279 

slavery,  to  the  remaining  one- third.  They  might  be  put  in 
bonds  and  whipped ;  they  might  be  branded,  and  on  one  oc 
casion  are  spoken  of  as  if  actually  yoked.  Cattle  and  slaves, 
in  fact,  formed  a  common  measure  of  value  under  the  denom 
ination  of  live  money,  and  were  a  medium  of  exchange  in 
which  the  prices  of  commodities  were  computed. 

"  The  operatives  and  handicraftsmen  of  this  period,  as  well 
as  the  agricultural  laborers,  were  mostly  slaves.  The  clergy 
and  nobility  employed  as  domestic  servants  persons  of  this 
class  who  were  qualified  to  supply  them  with  such  things  as- 
were  then  considered  the  necessaries  of  life. 

"  Hence  in  monasteries  we  find  smiths,  carpenters,  millers, 
illuminators,  architects,  agriculturists  and  fishermen.  Smiths 
and  carpenters  were  the  most  numerous  and  important  as 
ministering  to  the  chief  secular  pursuits  of  the  time,  both  in 
war  and  husbandry.  .  •<,•& 

"  Great  as  were  the  politic  d  effects  of  the  Norman  invasion 
it  did  not  materially  alter  the  condition  of  the  masse?  of  the 
people.  Their  services  were  as  necessary  to  the  new  masters 
as  to  the  old,  and  the  terms  on  which  these  were  rendered 
could  hardly  have  been  made  more  onerous  than  they  had 
been.  In  order  to  maintain  more  firmly  the  ascendancy  of 
the  invaders  the  feudal  relations  were  enforced  with  some 
what  greater  strictness  than  before,  but  no  changes  were 
made  in  the  chain  of  subordination  which  had  already  been 
established. 

"  Hence  for  a  long  time  after  the  conquest  the  Saxon  sub 
divisions  of  society  were  maintained,  and  the  inhabitants  of 
the  country  continued  to  be  divided  into  the  two  great  classes 
of  freemen  and  serfs  or  slaves.  Except  the  baronial  proprie 
tors  of  land  and  their  vassals,  the  free  tenants  and  socmen, 
the  country  people  were  depressed  in  servitude,  which  was 
uniform  in  this  respect,  that  no  one  who  had  either  been  born 
in  or  had  fallen  into  bondage  could  acquire  any  absolute 
right  to  property.  Aside  from  this,  however,  there  were  dis 
tinctions  in  the  degrees  of  servitude.  One  class  of  villeins,  or 
villagers,  though  bound  to  the  most  servile  offices  of  rural  in 
dustry,  were  permitted  to  occupy  small  portions  of  land  to  sus 
tain  themselves  and  families. 
"  Other  ranks  of  men,  equally  servile,  are  noticed  in  the 


280  FREEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

ancient  records,  particularly  the  bordars  and  cottars.  The 
former,  in  consideration  of  being  allowed  a  small  cottage,  were 
required  to  provide  poultry,  eggs  and  other  articles  of  diet 
for  the  lord's  table  ;  and  the  latter  were  employed  in  the 
trades  of  smiths,  carpenter  and  other  handicraft  arts,  in  which 
they  had  been  instructed  at  the  charge  of  their  masters.  In 
ferior  to  these  were  the  thralls  or  servi,  principally  employed 
in  menial  services  about  the  mansion. 

"  Their  lives  were  professedly  protected  by  law,  and  with 
the  consent  of  their  owners  they  were  allowed  in  some  cases 
to  purchase  their  freedom  ;  but,  in  other  respects,  they  were 
in  the  lowest  degradation,  so  much  as  to  be  considered  mere 
chattels  and  regular  articles  of  commerce." 

From  this  condition,  so  strikingly  descriptive  of  our  own, 
in  many  respect?,  as  slaves,  and  even  now  as  freedmen,  as  the 
centuries  have  passed,  these  classes  and  their  descendants 
have  advanced  in  intelligence,  industry  and  civilization,  till 
their  achievements  in  all  those  things  which  distinguish 
national  greatness  command  the  admiration  of  the  world. 
Industrial  effort  inspired  and  sustained  intellectual  and  moral 
endeavor,  and  those  reacting  upon  each  other  not  only  led 
the  people  to  value,  assert  and  maintain  their  freedom  and 
independence,  but  to  make  the  progress  and  accomplish  the 
results  which  their  history  records. 

Our  industrial  future — the  future  of  industrial  triumph,  is 
still  before  us.  Properly  appreciating  the  future,  while  we 
labor  to  open  avenues  of  honorable  and  dignified  industry  to 
our  children,  we  may  justly  feel  that  in  this  way  largely  we 
shall  gain  wealth  and  its  blessings,  elevate  ourselves  and  our 
posterity  from  our  present  low  'moral  and  social  condition, 
ivhile  we  demonstrate  the  possession  of  that  industrial  capacity 
and  power  which  signalize  individual  and  national  vigor  and 
purpose. 

Let  us  remember  that  the  ancient  and  mediaeval  nations 
and  races  are  no  more  distinguished  for  moral  and  intellectual 
than  industrial  accomplishments. 


FUTURE  OF  THE  COLORED  AMERICAN.      281 

The  immortal  pyramids  of  Egypt,  frowning  upon  the  ages 
attest  the  industrial  triumphs  of  the  once  proud  people  of  the 
Pharaohs.  And  the  monuments  of  Greek  and  Roman  great 
ness  are  seen  and  admired  not  less  in  their  industrial  than 
in  their  intellectual  achievements.  This  is  true  of  all  the 
nations  and  all  the  races  of  the  past  which  have  won  renown 
and  gained  eminence  and  influence  in  the  world's  history. 

As  having  relation  to  our  general  educational  condition,  I 
would  present  the  following  letter  of  Hon.  John  Eaton,  Com 
missioner  of  Education  of  the  United  States  : 

DEPARTMENT  OF  THE  INTERIOR, 

BUREAU  OF  EDUCATION, 
WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  November  16,  1875. 
DEAR  SIR  :  Your  request  that  I  should  furnish  you  with 
"  the  number  of  schools  organized  among  the  colored  people 
since  their  emancipation,  giving  the  number  of  pupils  and  the 

Progress  that  has  been  made  by  them/'  is  received.  In  reply, 
would  respectfully  say  that  on  these  points  full  statistics 
cannot  be  given,  because  they  are  not  received  by  us. 

In  the  State  reports  on  education  from  the  old  non- slave- 
holding  States  there  is  rarely  ever  any  separation  of  schools 
for  colored  children,  with  their  pupils,  from  the  others ;  and  in 
many  of  those  from  the  States  in  which  slavery  existed  there 
is  no  such  such  separation — none,  for  example,  in  the  reports 
from  Alabama,  Florida,  Kentucky,  Louisiana,  Mississippi  or 
Texas.  And  even  in  the  States  which  do  make  returns  on 
this  point  there  is  considerable  difference  as  to  the  character 
of  the  returns.  Such  as  we  have,  we  give  : 

For  instance,  from  Delaware  we  have,  from  the  secretary 
of  a  society  which  has  thus  far  attended  to  this  work,  a  re 
port  of  1,125  colored  pupils  in 28  schools, under  28  teachers; 
from  Virginia  a  report  of  37,267  colored  pupils  enrolled  in 
669  schools,  number  of  teachers  not  given;  from  South 
Carolina  a  report  of  56,294  such  pupils  under  814  colored 
teachers,  number  of  schools  not  given  ;  from  North  Caro 
lina,  in  1873,  a  report  of  40,824  pupils  in  746  schools,  num 
ber  of  teachers  not^given;  from  Virginia  a  report  of  994 


282  FEEEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

schools,  with  an  enrollment  of  52,086  (out  of  a  colored  pop- 
ulation  of  177,317,)  under  490  colored  teachers;  from  Ten 
nessee  a  report  of  103,856  colored  school  population,  with 
923  schools,  921  colored  teachers,  and  in  1873  a  colored  at 
tendance  of  23,446 ;  from  Missouri  a  report  of  282  schools, 
for  a  colored  population  of  38,243,  attendance  not  given;  and 
from  West  Virginia  a  report  of  2,461  colored  children  (out 
of  5,540)  in  63  schools. 

Of  the  other  slave  States,  Alabama  appropriated  $163,- 
469  for  schools  among  a  colored  school  population  of  172,506 ; 
Arkansas  had  no  public  schools  to  report  in  1874.  Louisi 
ana,  by  law,  gives  all  her  children  access  to  the  schools  with 
out  distinction  of  race  or  color,  and  perhaps  one-half  out  of 
her  school  population  of  280,387  may  be  colored,  with  per 
haps  a  like  proportion  out  of  74,309  enrolled  in  schools. 
Maryland  seems  to  have  given  to  her  colored  schools  $68,- 
506,  these  schools  numbering  245,  with  269  teachers,  and  an 
enrollment  of  8,756  pupils.  In  Kentucky  a  system  of  schools 
for  colored  children  was  commenced  in  1874,  and  there  is 
yet  no  report  from  it.  Out  of  the  152,785  enrolled  in  schools 
in  Mississippi,  and  the  98,308  in  Texas,  you  may  form  your 
own  estimate  of  the  number  of  colored  pupils.  We  suppose 
that  it  may  be  about  one-third. 

Of  the  former  free  States  California  reports  694  colored 
children  in  public  and  private  schools ;  Indiana,  a  colored 
school  population  of  9,470;  Ohio,  5,950  in  colored  schools; 
Illinois,  an  attendance  of  colored  children  with  the  whites 
in  a  large  majority  of  the  counties,  while  in  ten  counties 
they  attended  separate  schools;  number  of  colored  pupils 
not  given. 

The  above  refers  throughout  to  elementary  schools.  Be 
yond  these  we  find  15  graded  schools,  sustained  by  the 
American  Missionary  Association  in  five  Southern  States, 
and  several  of  kindred  character  sustained  by  the  Protes 
tant  Epis,eopal  Church.  The  former  had,  at  the  time  of  the 
last  report,  66  teachers  and  4,654  pupils.  The  statistics  of 
the  latter  are  not  in  our  hands. 

Then  the  State  of  Alabama  sustains,  or  helps  to  sustain, 
as  a  part  of  her  public  school  system,  two  normal  schools,  at 


FUTURE  OF  THE  COLORED  AMERICAN.      283 

Huntsville  and  Marion,  for  the  training  of  colored  teachers, 
with  about  200  pupils  in  them.  Maryland  has  one,  at  Balti 
more,  with  about  250  pupils,  and  New  York  city  one,  with 
18  to  20  pupjls.  One  is  sustained  by  the  colored  people 
themselves  at  Jefferson  City,  Mo.,  and  others  for  them  at 
Lincoln  University,  Oxford,  Pa.;  Wilberforce  University, 
Xenia,  Ohio;  Fish  University  and  Nashville  Normal  and 
Theological  Institute,  Nashville,  Tenn.,  with  one  at  Mary- 
ville,  in  the  same  State ;  at  Tongaloo  University,  Mi  ss. ;  at 
Straight  University  and  New  Orleans  University,  New  Or 
leans,  La.;  at  Talladega  College,  Talladega,  Ala.;  at  Atlanta 
University,  Atlanta,  Ga.;  at  Shaw  University,  Raleigh, 
N.  C.;  at  St.  Augustine's  school  in  the  same  place.  In  Pe 
tersburg,  Va.,  the  Rev.  G.  Cook,  a  colored  minister  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  sustains  one,  with  about  70 
pupils,  while  at  Hampton,  Va.,  is  a  large  and  important  one, 
and  at  Howard  University  one,  as  you  know.  The  number 
of  colored  pupils  in  most  of  these  cannot  be  determined  by 
us,  as  they  are  not  separated  in  the  statistics  from  the  whites 
who  may  also  be  attendant. 

In  all  the  above  universities  and  colleges,  too,  the  colored 
people  have  admission  to  the  advantages  of  both  superior 
and  professional  instructions  ;  as  also  at  Berea  College,  Be- 
rea,  Ky.;  at  Central  Tennessee  College,  Nashville,  Tenn.; 
at  Alcorn  University,  Rodney,  Miss.;  at  Leland  University, 
New  Orleans,  La.,  and  at  the  University  of  South  Carolina, 
Columbia.  Oberlin  College,  Ohio,  is  open  to  them.  Yale  and 
Trinity,  Conn.;  Harvard,  in  Mass  ;  Dartmouth,  «in  N.  H., 
have  admitted  colored  students,  and  few,  if  any,  would  ex 
clude  them  now.  At  most  of  the  theological  schools  in  the 
Northern  States,  too,  colored  pupils  are  believed  to  find  a 
welcome.  How  far  this  is  the  case  at  law  and  medical  schools, 
your  own  researches  have  probably  determined. 

As  to  the  progress  made  by  colored  pupils  in  the  various 
kinds  of  institutions  thus  organized  for  them  or  opened  to 
them,  no  absolute  general  statement  can  be  made.  In  the 
effort  to  secure  equal  advantages  to  pupils  of  every  color, 
there  has  been  less  and  less  showing  of  the  different  races 
in  statistics.  It  is,  however,  certain  that,  in  many  instances 
which  come  clearly  beneath  our  observation,  the  colored  chil- 


284  FREEPOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

dren  in  the  schools  and  colored  youths  in  colleges  have 
advanced  as  fast  and  as  far  as  white  ones  with  the  same  ad 
vantages. 

Trusting  that  this  information  may  serve  your  purpose,  I 
am,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

JOHN  EATON, 

Commissioner  of  Education. 
PROF.  JOHN  M.  LANGSTON,  Washington,  D.  C. 

In  colored  schools  managed  by  boards  of  trustees  or  com 
missioners  having  charge  of  the  white  schools  as  well,  in 
which  uniform  regulations  as  to  text  books,  the  employment 
and   control  of  teachers,  the   examination  and  conduct  of 
pupils  are  enforced,  though  the  schools  be  separate,  in  many 
instances,  the  progress  of  the  scholars  has  been  marked  and 
commendable.     In  schools  where  the  children  attend  without 
reference  to  complexional  peculiarities  their  progress  has  been 
greater,  and  the  intellectual  and  moral  condition  of  the  scholar 
more  thoroughly  improved.    In  such  schools  no  inconvenience 
or  injury  is  experienced  by  either  class,  white  or  colored, 
while  their   contact  improves  both  in  feeling   and  friendly 
regard  for  each  other.     The  schools  only  will  bring  perfect 
reconciliation  to  the  races.     Such  colleges   as  Oberlin  and 
the  schools  of  New  England  furnish  proof  of  the  correctness 
of  this  opinion.    And  the  trustees  and  officers  of  such  colleges 
and  schools  deserve  the  grateful  commendation  of  all  classes. 
They  but  pursue  that  path  of  national  reform  essential  to  the 
highest  good  of  the  colored,  and  conducive  to  the  permanent 
welfare  of  the  white  American.     And  success  in  this  regard 
will  win  for  the  philanthropic  Christian  educator  the  golden 
crown  of  the  nation's  noblest  reformer. 

As  to  this  subject,  I  need  not  weary  your  patience  with 
protracted  remarks.  Upon  the  dignity,  importance  and 
necessity  of  education,  our  minds  are  fully  settled.  We  have 


FUTURE  OF  THE  COLORED  AMERICAN.      285 

only  to  give  ourselves  anxiety  and  care  as  to  the  thoroughness 
and  skill  with  which  the  children  and  wards  are  educated. 
We  are  justly  solicitous  as  to  the  wholesome  character  of  food 
eaten  by  our  families.  Nothing  poisonous  and  deleterious 
is  knowingly  suffered  to  be  brought  into  our  houses.  And 
were  we  convinced  that  our  cook,  or  any  other,  had  given 
such  article  of  food  to  our  child,  our  indignation  and  wrath 
would  be  kindled  and  burn  at  highest  heat.  Were  the  object 
of  our  anger  by  his  act  brought  within  the  meshes  of  the  law, 
no  delay  would  be  made  in  bringing  him  to  justice.  Man 
kind  would  applaud  our  conduct  in  this  case.  Let  us  be 
solicitous!  It  is  well.  But,  if  we  care  thus  for  the  body, 
should  we  not  be  even  more  careful  of  the  soul,  with  regard 
to  the  food  upon  which  our  minds  are  fed  ?  Articles  of  one 
sort  strengthen  and  invigorate;  those  of  another  debilitate 
and  destroy.  Mental  robustness,  strength  and  vigor  of  soul 
we  need.no  less  than  bodily  health  and  endurance. 

Here  I  bring  to  your  consideration  two  facts :  First,  in 
many  schools  and  colleges,  established  and  conducted  in  the 
interest  of  the  colored  youth  of  our  country,  scholars  and 
students  are  taught,  as  they  are  generally  treated,  as  if  they 
were  of,  and  destined  to  live  and  labor  only  among,  a  peculiar 
caste  or  class.  They  are  frequently  told  that  they  are  colored, 
and  that  when  they  complete  their  course  of  study  they  are 
to  find  occupation  among  colored  people.  In  the  second  place 
they  are  impressed,  by  teaching  and  conduct,  too,  generally, 
that  an  imperfect  mastery  of  the  various  branches  of  study* 
even  the  commonest,  will  answer  all  purposes  for  them.  Their 
study,  therefore,  often  is  of  that  loose  and  unreliable  sort 
which  in  no  sense  strengthens,  but  confuses  and  weakens  the 
understanding.  The  same  mastery  of  learning  and  science,  the 
same  careful  discipline  and  culture  of  the  mental  powers,  the 
same  consciousness  of  power  developed  and  sustained  by  such 


286  FBEEDOM  AND  CITIZENSHIP. 

mastery,  discipline  and  culture,  are  needed  in  the  case  of  the 
colored  American  youth  as  in  that  of  any  and  all  others.  In 
our  country,  famous  for  its  composite  nationality,  the  equality 
of  all  its  citizens  before  the  law,  with  the  avenues  of  the  State, 
the  Church,  the  school,  open  to  all  alike,  with  the  largest 
rewards  awaiting  his  endeavors  who  brings  into  requisition, 
in  labors  of  literature,  science,  art  or  reform,  the  largest 
powers  of  heart  and  brain,  no  child,  the  children  of  no  class 
of  our  people,  should  be  taught,  or  in  any  wise  impressed,  that 
anything  less  than  the  most  perfect  educational  accomplish 
ment  will  suffice. 

If  we  would  grow  sons  strong  in  intellect,  rising  in  feeling 
and  purpose  to  the  moral  plane  of  the  truly  educated,  ac 
complishing  those  results  in  life  which  distinguish  earnest 
and  true  men,  let  them  forget  that  they  are  of,  and  must  live 
and  labor  for  and  among,  a  particular  class.  Let  them  see 
to  it  that  they  are  prepared  for  service  in  behalf  of  any  em 
ployer,  and  in  any  direction  promising  the  largest  harvest  of 
blessing  to  mankind. 

With  regard  to  our  moral,  social  and  civil  condition  I  had 
intended  to  speak  at  this  time.  Upon  each  of  these  topics 
much  remains  to  be  said,  and  much  remains  to  be  done,  to 
improve  our  condition.  I  may  not,  however,  detain  you 
longer. 

Your  association,  this  night  entering  upon  its  mission  of 
benevolence  and  reform,  will  find  much  along  the  path  over 
which  I  have  conducted  your  minds  by  my  remarks  for  re 
flection  and  effort.  In  the  name  of  those  whose  advancement 
you  seek,  I  bespeak  for  it  the  most  cordial  and  generous 
support. 

THE  END. 


